2 Greetings
In this section you will learn how to say some basic greetings in Chinese.
Expressions used for greetings
Nǐ hăo 你好 (lit. ‘you good/well’) is the most commonly used greeting in Mandarin Chinese which can be used throughout the day. It is equivalent to ‘hello’ in English.
Nín hăo 您好 (lit. ‘you good/well’) is a polite greeting because ‘nín’ is the polite form for ‘you’ (singular), similar to the French pronoun ‘vous’. It is used to greet someone you meet for the first time, or who is senior either in terms of age or status. It can be loosely translated as ‘How do you do?’
Not too long ago when food was in short supply, the phrase ‘Have you eaten?’ (Nĭ chī le ma? 你吃了吗？) was a common greeting amongst neighbours. An appropriate response is to say ‘Chī le’ 吃了 for ‘Yes’ or ‘Méi chī’ 没吃 for ‘No’.
Zăo ān 早安 (lit. morning peace) is a common greeting in the morning in Taiwan.
When parting from people, you say:
Zàijiàn 再见 (lit. again see) meaning goodbye.
Note that although there are expressions in Chinese for ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’, ‘good evening’ and ‘good night’, they are not often used. Also, handshaking is seen as appropriate when greeting someone, however Chinese people do not feel comfortable being hugged or kissed in public.
Activity 6 Greetings
Listen to these different short expressions and select their English equivalents. You can listen to them as many times as you need to: just click on each one again to repeat it. If it is helpful, you can also look at the pinyin at the same time by clicking on ‘Transcript’.
a.
Hello (informal)
b.
How do you do? (formal)
c.
Goodbye
d.
None of the above
The correct answer is a.
a.
Goodbye
b.
Thank you/Thanks
c.
Not at all
d.
None of the above
The correct answer is b.
a.
Hello (informal)
b.
How do you do? (formal)
c.
Goodbye
d.
None of the above
The correct answer is b.
a.
Hello (informal)
b.
How do you do? (formal)
c.
Goodbye
d.
None of the above
The correct answer is c.