必须 bìxū▶ Deber

Stroke order

必须 is written in 14 strokes across 2 characters.

• 必 — 5 strokes
• 须 — 9 strokes

Senses

1. to have to
2. must
3. compulsory
4. necessarily

Example sentences

• 你必须学习汉语。Nǐ bìxū xuéxí hànyǔ.You must study Chinese.
• 我们必须早点回家。Wǒmen bìxū zǎodiǎn huí jiā.We must go home early.

Related words

• 何必Por qué
• 必然Inevitable
• 必要necesario
• 未必no necesariamente
• 务必deber
• 势必ciertamente; sin duda

必须 is pronounced bìxū and means “Deber”. You will meet it in HSK 3, a band of the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi — the standard test of Chinese proficiency. Most learners can pick 必须 out of a list long before they can reach for it unprompted, and the gap between those two closes only with repeated recall. LexiTrail schedules the next sighting from how well you did on the last.