Currently on DuoLingo, and got this sentence:
我们看电影的时候请不要说话
which means:
Please don't talk when we watch movies.
My question: is the 要 strictly necessary here? Google translate actually gives a slightly different translation of
我们看电影的时候请不说话
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要 is necessary in the sentence. 要 is necessary when express a demand. E. g. 不要说话！不要随意乱画！etc. – dan Jun 7 at 3:14
'要' in '不要' cannot be removed, because '不要' is a compound word that mean 'don't'(auxiliary verb) which is different from '不' (adv: not)
不要说话/ 别说话 = Don't talk (demand)
不说话 = 'not speak'
看电影的时候请(不要)说话 - Please (don't) talk when watching movies (O)
看电影的时候请(别)说话 - Please (don't) talk when watching movies (O)
看电影的时候请(不)说话 - Please (not) talk when watching movies (X)
他(不说话) = he (doesn't speak)
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However, it is a little confusing, since 要 also means "want". How to say "don't want"? – information_interchange Jun 7 at 18:51
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我们看电影的时候请不要说话(√)
我们看电影的时候请别说话(√)
我们看电影的时候请不说话(X)
