Learn 10 ways to say hello
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| Hi! Welcome to Chinese Top Words. Today, we’re going to talk about 10 ways to say hello in Chinese. Hello! Let’s get started. |
| 1. 嗨。 (Hài.) "Hi." |
| I think this is just a literal translation from the English “Hi.”. We created this character for hi. This character is only for this meaning. This is a very casual one. |
| 2. 你好。 (Nǐ hǎo.) "Hello." |
| (Nǐ hǎo.) |
| This is the most commonly used way of saying hello in Chinese. If it is a little more formal for the people who are higher than you in status, you can use 你 (Nǐ) with 您 (Nǐn), 您好。(Nǐn hǎo.). For your teacher, for your professor, for your boss, for your client, you can say - 您好。(Nǐn hǎo.). |
| 3. 好久不见。 (Hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn.) "Long time no see." |
| If you took a vacation from your company and come back in one month and see your colleague again, you can say - 好久不见。 (Hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn.) "Long time no see." |
| “How have you been?” 还好吗？(Hái hǎo ma?). |
| “How is your job going?” 工作还好吗？ (Gōngzuò hái hǎo ma?). |
| 4. 最近怎么样？ (Zuìjìn zěnmeyàng?) "How have you been?" |
| 最近 (Zuìjìn) is “recently”, recent; 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) “how”. You can use 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) for many things. |
| “How is your food?” 你吃得怎么样? (Nǐ chī dé zěnmòyàng?) 你的食物怎么样? (Nǐ de shíwù zěnmòyàng?) |
| “How’s your job?” 你的工作怎么样? (Nǐ de gōngzuò zěnmó yàng?) |
| 怎么样 (Zěnmeyàng) means “how” in English. |
| 5. 你好吗？ (Nǐ hǎo ma？) "How are you?" |
| This is a very general form of saying hello, of asking how is one person doing recently or generally. Even if you see each other every day, you can say - 你好吗？ (Nǐ hǎo ma？). |
| 6. 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo) "Good morning." |
| Or you can use the shortened term, you can say - 早! (Zǎo!). If you say 早啊! (Zǎo a!), it means good morning too. |
| 7. 晚上好。 (Wǎnshang hǎo) "Good evening." |
| If you’re saying goodbye to somebody after dinner, you can say “Good night.” 晚安。(Wǎn'ān.) “Good night.” |
| 8. 吃了吗？ (Chī le ma?) "Have you eaten?" |
| 吃了吗？ (Chī le ma?) I think it’s a more realistic way, more common way of saying hello. If you really want to sound like Chinese instead of foreigner, you will use this term for saying hello. You do not actually have to answer it seriously. For example, even if you see your friend is eating, you can still ask, “Have you eaten?”. Even you know he is eating, you can say, “Have you eaten?”. It’s like, ah, how are you? What’s up? So it’s a more Chinese way of saying hello. |
| 9. 在忙吗？ (Zài máng ma?) "Are you busy?" |
| 忙 (Máng) means “busy”. “Are you busy?” 在忙吗？ (Zài máng ma?). It’s like, do you have a minute to talk? I have something to ask. It’s like a polite way of asking somebody’s favor or you want to talk with somebody and you’re asking about your availability. |
| 10. 咱们又见面了。 (Zánmen yòu jiàn miàn le.) "Good to see you again." |
| 咱们 (Zánmen) means “we”, 见面 (jiàn miàn) means “meet up”, but 咱们 (zánmen) is a little… we do not use it in my hometown. We more often say 我们 (wǒmen). 咱们 (Zánmen) is a more casual way maybe of saying 我们 (wǒmen). Usually, we say 我们 (wǒmen) more frequently so 我们 (wǒmen) means “we”. |
| Thank you for watching today’s Chinese Top Words. I hope you learned more ways of greeting people in Chinese. I will see you next time. Bye! |
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