必须

Character by character

• 必bì5 strokesHSK 2surely, most certainly; must
• 须xū9 strokesHSK 2 traditional 須must, have to, necessary

Each character links to its stroke order page with a tracing and a writing exercise.

Example sentences

• 必须的！

  Bì xū de

  Definitely!

  Listen

• 你必须走。

  Nǐ bì xū zǒu

  You must leave.

  Listen

• 我必须走了。

  Wǒ bì xū zǒu le

  I have to go.

  Listen

• 我们必须走了。

  Wǒ men bì xū zǒu le

  We have to go.

  Listen

Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR), contributed by their community.

Words with the same characters

These words share at least one character with 必须. Reading them together is how the character starts to stick — the same characters in a different context.

• 必要bì yàoHSK 3

  necessary; essential; indispensable; required

• 不必bù bìHSK 3

  need not; does not have to; not necessarily

• 必bìHSK 5

  certainly; must; will; necessarily

• 须xūHSK 7

  beard; mustache; feeler (of an insect etc); tassel

• 必然bì ránHSK 3

  inevitable; certain; necessity

• 何必hé bìHSK 7

  there is no need; why should

• 必需bì xūHSK 5

  to need; to require; essential; indispensable

• 未必wèi bìHSK 4

  not necessarily; maybe not

• 必定bì dìngHSK 7

  to be bound to; to be sure to

• 必将bì jiāngHSK 6

  inevitably

• 务必wù bìHSK 7

  must; to need to; to be sure to

• 无须wú xūHSK 7

  need not; not obliged to; not necessarily

• 必不可少bì bù kě shǎoHSK 7

  absolutely necessary; indispensable; essential

• 胡须hú xū

  beard

• 势必shì bìHSK 7

  to be bound to; undoubtedly will

• 须知xū zhī

  key information; instructions; it must be borne in mind

• 必修bì xiūHSK 6

  (of an academic course) required; compulsory