VividHanzi · Dictionary

还是 hái shi

HSK 3 word · traditional 還是

Meanings

• still (as before)
• had better
• unexpectedly
• or

Characters

• 还 hái, huán: still
• 是 shì: to be (followed by substantives only)

Grammar: "Or" in questions: 还是 vs 或者

A + 还是 + B？

Chinese has two words for "or". 还是 is for questions that ask someone to choose, and needs no 吗. 或者 is for statements, when either option is fine.

Example sentences

肉还是鱼？
Meat or fish?
Tatoeba #1358670 by sadhen (CC BY 2.0 FR)

你家还是我家？
Your place or mine?
Tatoeba #2607380 by visualtoday (CC BY 2.0 FR)

我还是很气。
I'm still mad.
Tatoeba #9972435 by GlossaMatik (CC BY 2.0 FR)

Meanings and readings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0).