他們要輸了。

They were going to lose.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

1 他們 tāmen they; them
=2 要 yāo (bound form) to demand; to coerce
=2 要 yào
  1. to want; to need; to ask for
  2. will; shall; about to
  3. need to; should
  4. if (same as 要是 yàoshi)
  5. (bound form) important
=2 要 yǎo
  1. (archaic) alternative form of 偠 (yǎo)
  2. alternative form of 偠 (yǎo)
  3. used in 要褭／要袅
=3 輸 shū
  1. to lose; to be beaten
  2. (bound form) to transport
  3. (literary) to donate; to contribute
  4. (coll.) to enter (a password)
=3 輸 shù
  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 腧 (“acupoint”)
  2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) present, gift, donation
  3. alternative form of 腧 (“acupoint”)
  4. present, gift, donation
=4 了 le
  1. (completed action marker)
  2. (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now)
  3. (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)
=4 了 liǎo
  1. to finish
  2. (used with 得 dé or 不 bù after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了 wàngbuliǎo "cannot forget")
  3. (literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 無 wú or 不 bù) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least
  4. to understand clearly (variant of 瞭 liǎo)
=4 了 liǎo
  1. (of eyes) bright
  2. clear-sighted
  3. to understand clearly
=4 了 liào unofficial variant of 瞭 liào