不要说话 vs 不说话 (vs 别说话)

Question

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

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 '20 at 3:14

Tang Ho · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-07 05:40:03Z

2

'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)

他(不说话) = he (doesn't speak)

answered Jun 7 '20 at 5:23

Tang Ho♦

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Thanks, got it 不要 should always be used (or 别) – information_interchange Jun 7 '20 at 18:51
However, it is a little confusing, since 要 also means "want". How to say "don't want"? – information_interchange Jun 7 '20 at 18:51
Don't want is 不想 – Tang Ho♦ Jun 7 '20 at 19:38
1

Or you could also say "不想要 " – 高鵬翔 Jun 8 '20 at 1:54
I agree with @高鵬翔 . 你要不要? the answer is 不要 – information_interchange Jun 9 '20 at 0:49

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Tang Ho · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-07 05:19:14Z

1

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)

Tang Ho♦

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answered Jun 7 '20 at 5:18

WJluan

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