不如 bùrú — to be not as good as; had better

Meanings

1. 1

   to be not as good as; had better

   The negative comparison — A 不如 B means A falls short of B — and, from that, a way of proposing: 与其…不如… weighs two options and picks the second. It is how Chinese says "rather than X, let us Y".

   verb

Character breakdown

• 不

  bù (fourth tone, falling)

  not, no — the general negative, placed before verbs and adjectives

  4 strokesRadical 一

Example sentences

• 我的汉语不如他好。/我的漢語不如他好。Wǒ (third tone, dipping) de (neutral tone) Hànyǔ (fourth tone, falling) bùrú (fourth tone, falling) tā (first tone, high and level) hǎo. (third tone, dipping)···

  My Chinese is not as good as his.

• 天气这么好，不如出去走走。/天氣這麼好，不如出去走走。Tiānqì (first tone, high and level) zhème (fourth tone, falling) hǎo, (third tone, dipping) bùrú (fourth tone, falling) chūqù (first tone, high and level) zǒuzou. (third tone, dipping)···

  The weather is so good — we might as well go out for a walk.

Similar words

Words containing 不

• 不bù (fourth tone, falling)not (negates verbs, adjectives and modal verbs)
• 不要bù (fourth tone, falling) yào (fourth tone, falling)don't!
• 不错/不錯bù (fourth tone, falling) cuò (fourth tone, falling)correct
• 不同bù (fourth tone, falling) tóng (second tone, rising)different
• 不断/不斷búduàn (second tone, rising)continuously, unceasingly
• 不过/不過búguò (second tone, rising)but, however (a lighter contrast than 但是)
• 不再bù (fourth tone, falling) zài (fourth tone, falling)no more
• 不用bù (fourth tone, falling) yòng (fourth tone, falling)need not
• 不少bù (fourth tone, falling) shǎo (third tone, dipping)many
• 不但búdàn (second tone, rising)not only … (but also)
• 差不多chàbuduō (fourth tone, falling)about the same, close enough, not much different
• 不然bùrán (fourth tone, falling)otherwise, or else
• 不管bùguǎn (fourth tone, falling)no matter (what/how…), regardless of
• 不足bùzú (fourth tone, falling)insufficient, inadequate; a shortcoming
• 不够/不夠bù (fourth tone, falling) gòu (fourth tone, falling)not enough
• 不行bù (fourth tone, falling) xíng (second tone, rising)won't do
• 不仅/不僅bù (fourth tone, falling) jǐn (third tone, dipping)not only (this one)