---
title: "只有…才… in Chinese Grammar: Only if … will …, With Examples"
description: "只有…才…: only if … will …. A necessary condition. 4 real lines from stories, each word explained."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/zhiyou-cai"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Chinese grammar](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar)

# 只有…才…

Only if … will …

A necessary condition.

## In stories

“**只有老邻居才叫这儿**‘七楼’。

[七楼 · 第十三天 · The Seventh Floor, Episode 13: Not His Parcels](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/the-seventh-floor-episode-13-not-his-parcels#library-word-140-149) HSK 3

**只有醒过来，才恍然大悟**：“哦，原来是一场梦。”

[庄周梦蝶 · Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream, and what it means](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/zhuangzi-butterfly-dream-meaning#library-word-410-421) HSK 5

民间有一种说法：过去，**只有去世的人，才会脚朝着门躺着**。

[风水是什么？ · What is feng shui?](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/what-is-feng-shui#library-word-454-469) HSK 6

关于故宫，还流传着一个说法：它一共有九千九百九十九间半房子，因为**只有天帝的宫殿才能有一万间**，皇帝不敢超过。

[紫禁城为什么叫紫禁城？ · Why is it called the Forbidden City?](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/why-is-it-called-the-forbidden-city#library-word-496-509) HSK 5

[Read 七楼 · 第十三天](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/the-seventh-floor-episode-13-not-his-parcels#library-word-140-149)

## More patterns

- [有点(儿) + adjective a bit …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/youdianr)
- [有的…，有的… some …, others …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/youde-youde)
- [只要…就… as long as …, …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/zhiyao-jiu)
- [(有)多 + adjective? (how …?) how …? (多 + …)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/duo-adj)
- [没(有) + 那么/这么 + adjective not that …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/mei-name-adj)
- [A 没有 B (那么/这么) + adjective not as … as …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/meiyou-name)

## What does 只有…才… mean in Chinese?

Only if … will …. A necessary condition.

## How common is 只有…才…?

It comes up in 4 readings of the 392 stories and articles in our free Library.

## Does it correct my mistakes?

No. It shows which patterns a text uses and what each one does; it doesn’t mark errors. Paste a sentence you wrote to see whether it uses the pattern you meant.

## More free tools

- [Chinese dictionary](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-dictionary)
- [Measure words](https://mandarinthewild.com/measure-words)
- [How hard is this text?](https://mandarinthewild.com/text-level)
- [Free Chinese stories](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

Patterns found by our own parser; lines from our free Library.