Initiating Dialogue: The Key to Fluent Chatting Mandarin
Initiating Dialogue: The Key to Fluent Chatting Mandarin
How should we say “hello” in Chinese? 你好 nǐ hǎo is maybe the most well-known Chinese greeting. But surely, like in many other languages, 你好 nǐ hǎo is not_the only way_ to greet someone in Chinese. There must be different kinds of greetings you can use with friends and other people you are close to, formal greetings that are suitable for business meetings, slightly formal “hello”s you can say when entering a store and so on. Well, indeed, there are! The Chinese language is just as rich in greetings as any other language. So, let’s dive in and learn the best ways to say “hello” in Mandarin like a fluent speaker.
Let’s learn how to actually say “hello” in Mandarin Chinese
The Mandarin “hello” is the “hello” that brings more than 1 billion people together. As you probably already know, Chinese is the most spoken language in the world, so learning how to say “hello” in Chinese is a pretty big deal for any avid language learner such as yourself, wouldn’t you say?
Contrary to Google’s most popular search result, 你好 nǐ hǎo isn’t how Chinese people actually greet each other every day. Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn 你好 nǐ hǎo as well – especially if you’re only just beginning to learn Chinese -, but don’t overuse it. Its literal translation is “you good” or “you ok” and it is generally used to greet only one person at a time. Not sure how to pronounce 你好 nǐ hǎo? Just say “nee haow” and you should be ok!
Since 你 nǐ is the informal form of “you” in Chinese, 你好 nǐ hǎo is considered an informal greeting you can safely use with friends and acquaintances.
But if you want to get a little bit more formal and greet someone who is higher-ranked than you, then you can switch to the polite 您好 nín hǎo. It may seem like a small difference, but I can assure you: it makes all the… difference!
“Li River, China” by Sam Beasley©
Now that you know the easiest and most popular way to say “hello” in Chinese, let’s move on to more advanced Mandarin Chinese greetings that are guaranteed to make you sound fluent.
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1. 早!(zǎo) – “Morning!” in Chinese
早 (zǎo) is short for 早上好 (zǎo shang hǎo), which means “good morning” in Chinese. The same as our English “good morning”, 早 (zǎo) can be used safely in all kinds of social interactions as long as it is… you’ve guessed it: morning.
2. 你好吗? (nǐ hǎo ma) – “How are you?” in Chinese
Or 您好吗? (nín hǎo ma?) if you want to be polite.
This expression is generally used as a response to a greeting, but it can also work as a “how are you?”.
- Title: Initiating Dialogue: The Key to Fluent Chatting Mandarin
- Author: Christopher
- Created at : 2024-08-15 17:51:01
- Updated at : 2024-08-16 17:51:01
- Link: https://mondly-stories.techidaily.com/initiating-dialogue-the-key-to-fluent-chatting-mandarin/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.