How to Say ‘Do I need to take medicine?’ in Simplified Chinese
要吃药吗？
yào chī yào ma
[yaow chī yào ma]
💬 Usage Tip: Medicine is "eaten" in Chinese: 吃药 "take medicine". You'd say this even for pills you swallow with water.
Phrase Breakdown
要
yào
[yaow]
need to; must
Shows necessity or requirement, often used in rules, policies, and instructions.
你要在规定时间内取消预订。
You need to cancel the reservation within the specified time.
吃
chī
[chī]
to take (medicine)
In Chinese, medicine is 'eaten'; 吃 means to take it by mouth.
你今天吃药了吗？
Did you take your medicine today?
药
yào
[yào]
medicine
A drug used to treat illness.
这种药饭后吃。
Take this medicine after meals.
吗
ma
[ma]
question particle
A sentence-final particle used to turn a statement into a yes-no question.
你是第一次来吗？这里的“吗”表示提问。
Is this your first time here? Here, 吗 marks a question.
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