只有

只有 zhǐyǒu

Only (only when)

只有 in a sentence HSK 3 zhiyou

What 只有 means

  1. Only (only when)

These meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the Chinese to Pinyin translator and the Chinese to English translator, so a whole sentence containing 只有 will read it the same way this page does.

Recognise a piece of 只有 but not the character it belongs to? Pick the parts in the component character finder and it will name the character for you — free for every character, with nothing to sign in to.

Character by character

只有 is written with 2 characters. Chinese words are usually easier to remember once you can see what each part contributes.

只
zhī
Only (merely - but - mw for a pair)
有
yǒu
To have (has - there is - there are)

How to write 只有

Stroke order is not decoration — it is what makes handwriting legible and what dictionary lookup by stroke count depends on.

Practise 只有 on printable 田字格 sheets, trace it in the writing practice tool, or watch any other character in the Stroke Order Animator.

只有 in a sentence

只有努力才能提高水平。
Zhǐyǒu nǔlì cái néng tígāo shuǐpíng.
Only through hard work can you improve.
房间里只有他一个人。
Fángjiān lǐ zhǐyǒu tā yí gè rén.
He is the only one in the room.

Every sentence on this site that uses 只有 is collected on the 只有 sentence page. Want pinyin above a sentence of your own? Paste it into the Pinyin Annotator.

Questions about 只有

What does 只有 mean in English?

只有 is pronounced zhǐyǒu and means Only (only when).

How do you pronounce 只有?

只有 is zhǐyǒu in pinyin — written zhiyou without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.

What are the characters in 只有?

只有 is written with 2 characters: 只 (zhī) Only (merely - but - mw for a pair), 有 (yǒu) To have (has - there is - there are). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.

Is 只有 an HSK word?

Yes — 只有 is on the official HSK 3 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 3 page.

Studied around the same time

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Translate a whole sentence containing 只有 with the Chinese to Pinyin translator, study it alongside the rest of HSK 3, drill it with HSK flashcards, or save it above and review it on your review deck.

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