Chinese for the Casual Learner
Greetings
The following greetings are pretty straightforward and can be used in the same way as their English equivalents. A couple of observations:
- Chinese people don't generally say "Good afternoon" or "Good evening". When greeting someone after around 10:00AM simply use nǐ hǎo (Hello).
- If you want to include the name or title of the addressee, you should give the
name or title followed by the greeting. This is the exact opposite of the English custom. For example:
Hello, Mr. Wang
should be Mr. Wang, nǐ hǎo.
| Hello | nǐ hǎo | 你好 | Reply with the nǐ hǎo. |
| Good morning | zǎo ān | 早安 | Use until about 10:00 am. Use Ni hao for the rest of the day. |
| Long time no see! | hǎo jiǔ bù jiàn | 好久不见 | |
| How are you? | nǐ hǎo ma? | 你好吗？ | |
| Fine. And you? | hěn hǎo. nǐ ne? | 很好。你呢？ | |
| Fine. Thanks | hěn hǎo. xièxie. | 很好。谢谢 | |
| How is it going? | zěnme yàng? | 怎么样？ | |
| Have you eaten yet? | nǐ chī le ma? | 你吃了吗 | Very informal greeting used around meal times. |
| See you again / Good bye | zàijiàn | 再见 | |
| Good night | wǎn ān | 晚安 | Use when leaving. |
| See you tomorrow | míngtiān jiàn | 明天见 |