要grammar point · tier 1 · 要 + verb — intend to / be about to
· yào
Sets a verb as the subject's settled intention, leaning into about-to when 了 closes the clause.
字源 FORM what the parts do
要 is a figure with hands on the waist, the body's middle. The middle is the essential, and the essential is what you reach for. Set before a verb, it points the whole body at that action.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A body leans toward the door, weight already tipping forward onto the next step.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[subj] 要 [verb] (… 了)
觸 · Trigger
You are set on a coming action and want to say you are on its verge.
序 · The move
1name the subject who is set on the action
2要 + the verb of what comes nextis this a settled intention, not a faint wish?
3close with 了 when the action is on the vergedoes 要…了 read as about-to, not a habit?
例 · Examples
1我要about to / intend to出去go out了marks the turn now arriving，你有什麼話快一點說吧。
I'm about to head out, so say whatever you've got quickly.
了 alone marks a turn that has arrived; 要…了 marks one still a step ahead, the verge of arriving.
softening a wish with 不要: 我不要去 (lands as a flat refusal) → 我不想去 (don't feel like going)
dropping 了 for imminence: 我要走 (plain intention) → 我要走了 (about to leave now)
stacking wish onto intention: 我想要去 → 我想去 / 我要去
English folds 'want to', 'will', and 'about to' into one feel; learners reach for 要 where 想 (mere wish) or a bare future fits, or skip 了 and lose the on-the-verge reading.