How to express obligations in Mandarin Chinese?

To express obligations in Mandarin Chinese, you can use obligation words like
一定 (transcribed yīdìng, meaning “must”), 得 (transcribed děi, meaning “should”), 不许 (transcribed bùxǔ, meaning “must not/not allowed”), and 不要 (transcribed bùyào, meaning “should not”). In Mandarin, you’ll use obligation words to express social and moral obligations. For example:

There are some interesting things about obligation words in Mandarin. For example, some words convey a stronger sense of obligation than others. The Chinese use 一定 (transcribed yīdìng, meaning “must”) to express a strong sense of obligation and 得 (transcribed děi, meaning “should”) for a weak sense of obligation.
不许 (transcribed bùxǔ, meaning “must not/not allowed”) and 不要 (transcribed bùyào, meaning “should not”) are used to express negative obligations, something you must not or should not do or say.

Read on to learn more about how these obligation words are used and you’ll be able to express obligations accurately in Mandarin!

The following words express strong obligations in Mandarin Chinese, showing the determination of the speaker themselves or the addressee. That is, these words recommend people do something, and they must do it. These words also convey the message that if things don’t get done, then serious consequences may occur.

These strong obligation words are often used in formal contexts. However, they may also be used in informal contexts. For example, if a mother tells her daughter not to go out after dark, the daughter may say,

Here, “must” is used in informal conversation.

The word 要 (transcribed yào, meaning “want”) can be added to most of the strong obligation words above to enhance the strength of the obligation. For example, we can say, 我们必须要这么做 (transcribed Wǒmen bìxū yào zhème zuò, meaning “We must do it”). The only exception is that 要 (transcribed yào, meaning “want”) cannot be added to 不得不 (transcribed bùdébù, meaning “have to”).

The word 会 (transcribed huì, meaning “will”) can be added only to 一定 (transcribed yīdìng, meaning “must”) to enhance the strength of obligation. For example:

The following words can be used to express weak obligations in Mandarin Chinese:

This group of obligation words is soft and less strong than those of the previous group. For example, 得 (děi, “have to”) in this group conveys a weaker sense of obligation than 必须 (bìxū, “must”) in the previous group. The former is usually used in informal and spoken contexts, as opposed to the latter in formal and written contexts.

Instead of 应该 (transcribed yīnggāi, meaning “should”), you can also use 应 (transcribed yīng), 该 (transcribed gāi),
应当 (transcribed yīngdāng), and 当 (transcribed dāng).

The first four are interchangeable. For example, we can say,

On the other hand, 当 tends to be used in Chinese poems, old sayings, etc. For example, 男儿当自强 (transcribed Nán'ér dāng zìqiáng, meaning “A man should stand strong”) is a Chinese saying. This saying always refers to male addressees, telling them that men must be strong whatever the difficulties.

最好 (transcribed zuìhǎo, meaning “had better”) can be used to either lay an obligation or make a covert threat. For example:

vs.

These are the commonly used negative obligation words in Mandarin Chinese, compared to the positive ones:

The negative form of the majority of obligation words is 不必 (transcribed bùbì) or 不用 (transcribed búyòng), which is equivalent to the English “don’t have to.” For example, the negation of 他得去 (transcribed Tā děi qù, meaning “He has to go”) is 他不用去 (transcribed Tā bùyòng qù, meaning “He doesn't have to go”).

Most positive obligation words can be replaced with 不必 (transcribed bùbì) or 不用 (transcribed búyòng) for their negative forms, but there are some negative obligation words that are made by adding 不 (meaning bù) to their positive forms. For example, 一定不 (transcribed yīdìng bù) matches 一定 (transcribed yīdìng), 不应该 (transcribed bù yīnggāi) matches 应该 (transcribed yīnggāi), and 不要 (transcribed bùyào)/不需要 (transcribed bùxūyào) matches 要 (transcribed yào) / 需要 (transcribed xūyào). For example:

In Mandarin, obligations may be expressed strongly (e.g.,
一定) or less strongly (e.g., 得). There are also negative forms of obligation words. The table below summarizes all three types of obligation words:

Now it is time to put your knowledge of obligation words into practice. These exercises will help you to practice how to use obligation words in Mandarin Chinese correctly, so go ahead and check them out.