我还要包子。(Wǒ hái yào bāozi.) I want more steamed stuffed buns.
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In the video above, the father repeated a sentence “我还要包子 (Wǒ hái yào bāozi) I want more steamed stuffed buns,” but the kid refuse to say the phrase “还要 (hái yào)” no matter how his father tried.
The phrase “还要 (hái yào)” is composed of two Chinese characters “还 (hái)” and “要 (yào).”
In the Chinese language, “还 (hái)” is a polyphone.
When pronounced as “hái,” it is an adverb meaning “still” or “also,” such as “还好 (hái hǎo) not bad,” “还有 (hái yǒu) also” and so on.
When it is pronounced as “huán,” it is a verb meaning to return, such as “还原 (huán yuán) restore,” “还价 (huán jià) bargain,” “还钱 (huán qián) return money” and so on.
For example:
Gēmen, jiè wǒ diǎnr qián ba.
Jim: 哥们， 借 我 点儿 钱 吧。
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Buddy, how about lending me some money?
Á, yòu jiè, nǐ shàng cì jiè de hái méi huán ne.
Tom: 啊，又借，你 上 次借 的还 没 还 呢。
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Ah, again. You haven’t paid me back the money from last time.
As for another character “要 (yào),” it can be a verb and an auxiliary verb in the Chinese language; it means “want” or “request”.
In the sentence “我还要包子 (Wǒ hái yào bāozi),” ”要 (yào)” is a verb. You can also say “我还要吃包子 (Wǒ hái yào chī bāozi)” to mean the same thing, but in this sentence “要 (yào)” is an auxiliary verb to show a wish or desire.
For examples:
Zhè běn shū nǐ hái yào ma?
这 本 书 你 还 要 吗？
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Do you still want this book?
Wǒ yào huàn qián.
Customer: 我 要 换 钱。
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I’d like to exchange some money.
Huàn duōshǎo?
Bank clerk: 换 多少？
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How much money do you wish to exchange?
Huàn yìbǎi měiyuán.
Customer: 换 一百 美元。
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I want to exchange 100 US dollars.
