One of the ways to use 还是 (háishì) is to have it mean "you had better," similar to how in English we may say "I think you had better start on your homework."

Structure

还是 as an adverb can express "had better" or "it would be better to." The idea is that the speaker has given the matter some thought, and after considering it, has finally come to a decision. The announcement of this decision will frequently include 还是, and it usually comes before a verb or a subject.

Examples

还是明天去吧。Háishì míngtiān qù ba.We'd better go tomorrow.
还是让她进来吧。Háishì ràng tā jìnlái ba.We'd better let her come in.
你还是快点走吧。Nǐ háishì kuài diǎn zǒu ba.You'd better leave now.
我们还是帮帮他吧。Wǒmen háishì bāngbang tā ba.We'd better help him.
太晚了，还是先回家吧。Tài wǎn le, háishì xiān huíjiā ba.It's too late. We'd better go home now.
这里太脏了，我们还是走吧。Zhèlǐ tài zāng le, wǒmen háishì zǒu ba.It's too dirty here; we'd better leave.
快迟到了，我们还是打车吧。Kuài chídào le, wǒmen háishì dǎchē ba.We're running late. Let's take a taxi.

When the part after 还是 is a negative verb phrase, it's OK to drop the 吧 at the end.

太贵了，还是别买了。Tài guì le, háishì bié mǎi le.It's too expensive. You'd better not buy it.
她不想说，还是不要再问了。Tā bù xiǎng shuō, háishì bùyào zài wèn le.She doesn't want to say anything. We'd better stop asking.
他一定不同意，还是别跟他说了。Tā yīdìng bù tóngyì, háishì bié gēn tā shuō le.He will definitely disagree. We'd better not tell him.

Structure

Examples

See also

Sources and further reading

Books