应该 yīnggāi

应该(yīnggāi)means “should / ought to: obligation or reasonable inference”. 应该 goes before a verb to say something is proper or expected — 'should, ought to. Formation: 应该 + 动词/形容词(否定:不应该)

should / ought to: obligation or reasonable inference

HSK2

Formation

应该 + 动词/形容词(否定:不应该)

Explanation

应该 goes before a verb to say something is proper or expected — 'should, ought to.' It expresses either a duty (you should rest) or a confident guess (he should be there by now). The negative is 不应该 ('shouldn't').

Examples

应该 多休息。
nǐ yīnggāi duō xiūxi.
You should rest more.
现在八点了,他 应该 到了。
xiànzài bā diǎn le, tā yīnggāi dào le.
It's eight now; he should have arrived.

Note

Negative 不应该 = 'should not'. In speech 应该 can be shortened to 该.

FAQ

应该 — what does it mean and how is it used?

should / ought to: obligation or reasonable inference. 应该 goes before a verb to say something is proper or expected — 'should, ought to.' It expresses either a duty (you should rest) or a confident guess (he should be there by now). The negative is 不应该 ('shouldn't').

应该 — how do you form it?

应该 + 动词/形容词(否定:不应该)

应该 — any usage notes?

Negative 不应该 = 'should not'. In speech 应该 can be shortened to 该.

Related grammar

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