Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
还是 and 或者: or in Chinese
Original Chinese study material with English explanations. Simplified Chinese with pinyin; beginner, intermediate and advanced are editorial difficulty labels.
Use 还是 (háishì) to present alternatives in a choice question. 或者 (huòzhě) commonly presents alternatives in a statement.
你喝茶还是咖啡？
Nǐ hē chá háishì kāfēi?
Will you have tea or coffee?
我们可以坐车或者走路。
Wǒmen kěyǐ zuò chē huòzhě zǒu lù.
We can take a vehicle or walk.
还是 also means still or had better in other contexts. Do not choose a word from the English gloss alone.
Try it
Complete a choice question: 你今天去___明天去？
- 还是
- 而且
- 所以
Answer and explanation
还是. The speaker asks the listener to choose today or tomorrow.