Learn how to use expressions for greetings and partings
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| 大家好！我是李殷如。(Dàjiā hǎo! Wǒ shì Lǐ Yínrú.) |
| “Hi, everyone! My name is Yinru Li.” |
| At this lesson, we’ll look at ways to say hello and goodbye at different times of the day in Chinese. |
| Well, I’m sure for many of you, your very first Chinese word was 你好 (nǐ hǎo), right? |
| 你好 (nǐ hǎo) |
| Yes, 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is a very standard Chinese greeting, which translates to “hello,” 你好 (nǐ hǎo). |
| 你好 (nǐ hǎo) [enunciated] |
| 你好 (nǐ hǎo) |
| But here are some facts about 你好 (nǐ hǎo) you should know. |
| Number one, 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is a relatively more formal greeting. So we use 你好 (nǐ hǎo) with someone we just met or someone we don’t know really well yet, okay. |
| 你好 (nǐ hǎo) |
| Now, the second fact about 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is that 你好 (nǐ hǎo) can be used anytime of the day or even at night. Around the clock, 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is good, okay? |
| Now, the third fact about 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is that when we break down 你好 (nǐ hǎo), 你 (nǐ), first character 你 (nǐ) means “you” and 好 (hǎo) means “good.” So literally, 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is “you good,” 你好 (nǐ hǎo). And the second word, 好 (hǎo) is also found in many other greetings, such as 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo). |
| 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| As we know, 好 (hǎo) means “good” and 早上 (zǎoshang) means “morning” and more specifically, “early morning.” |
| 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| So, 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) is used to say “good morning.” |
| 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| And we use 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) roughly between sunrise to about 10 o’clock in the morning. The earlier part of the morning, we can use 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo). |
| Now, if you’re in a hurry or if you want to sound a little more friendly and less formal, you can use the shortened form of 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo), which is 早 (zǎo). One word, 早 (zǎo). 早 (zǎo) literally means “early,” but when used as a greeting, 早 (zǎo) means “morning.” So 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) and 早 (zǎo). |
| Now, if we combine this greeting word, 好 (hǎo) “good” with another time period, another time of the day, 晚上 (wǎnshang), 晚上 (wǎnshang), which means “evening” or “night.” 晚上好 (wǎnshang hǎo) is used to say “good evening.” So we can use 晚上好 (wǎnshang hǎo) of course at night, so probably between sunset to midnight or even later. |
| 晚上好 (wǎnshang hǎo) |
| Now, one thing I’d like to mention is that 你好 (nǐ hǎo), 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo), and 晚上好 (wǎnshang hǎo), these three greetings are all pretty formal, so you may not be using them with your close friends or colleagues, classmates on a daily basis, but it’s great to use with people of higher social status than you, such as your boss, your teacher, your customers and it’s good to use with a group of people such as in a meeting. |
| All right, now, let’s look at some parting expressions. You know, all good things come to an end. We always have to say goodbye. Now, here are some standard ways to say goodbye in Chinese. |
| The first one is 拜拜 (báibái). |
| 拜拜 (báibái) |
| Apparently, it’s a loanword from English “bye-bye,” okay? |
| 拜拜 (báibái) |
| It’s easy to use, right? |
| Now, the next one is more of the Chinese way of saying goodbye. |
| 再见 (zàijiàn) |
| 再见 (zàijiàn) |
| 再 (zài) means “again” and 见 (jiàn) means “to see,” so 再见 (zàijiàn),together literally is “again to see.” It’s to say I wish to see you again. |
| 再见 (zàijiàn) |
| Now, the third parting expression also has the word 见 (jiàn) “to see.” And before 见 (jiàn), it’s 下次 (xiàcì). 下次 (xiàcì) means “next time,” so 下次见 (xiàcì jiàn) is “next time to see” or see you next time, okay? |
| In comparison, 拜拜 (báibái) is more casual than 再见 (zàijiàn) and 下次见 (xiàcì jiàn), but they’re all good to use around the clock during any time of the day or even at night. |
| But there is one parting expression that’s used more specifically at a more specific time of the night, which is 晚安 (wǎn’ān). |
| 晚安 (wǎn’ān) |
| 晚 (wǎn) means “night” or “late,” 安 (ān) means “peaceful.” So, 晚安 (wǎn’ān) literally is “night peaceful,” have a peaceful night, have a good night, okay. |
| 晚安 (wǎn’ān) |
| Now, here’s a bonus word for you. When we swap this 晚 (wǎn) with its opposite, 早 (zǎo), which means “morning” or “early” like we learned just not too long ago, 早安 (zǎo ān) is another way to say “good morning.” |
| 早安 (zǎo ān) |
| Okay, the difference between 早安 (zǎo ān) and 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) is that 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) is more commonly used in mainland China, while 早安 (zǎo ān) is more common in Taiwanese Mandarin. |
| All right. Now, let’s look at our greetings and parting expressions one more time. |
| 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) “Good morning.” |
| 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) [enunciated] |
| 早。 (Zǎo.) “Morning.” |
| 早。 (Zǎo.) [enunciated] |
| 你好。 (Nǐ hǎo.) “Hello.” |
| 你好。 (Nǐ hǎo.) [enunciated] |
| 晚上好。 (Wǎnshang hǎo.) “Good evening.” |
| 晚上好。 (Wǎnshang hǎo.) [enunciated] |
| 拜拜。(Báibái.) “Bye-bye.” |
| 再见。 (Zàijiàn.) “See you again.” |
| 再见。 (Zàijiàn.) [enunciated] |
| 下次见。 (Xiàcì jiàn.) “See you next time.” |
| 下次见。 (Xiàcì jiàn.) [enunciated] |
| And… |
| 晚安。 (Wǎn’ān.) “Good night.” |
| 晚安。 (Wǎn’ān.) [enunciated] |
| Okay, great! Now, next, we’re going to hear a dialogue, a very short one. So, two neighbours are exchanging greetings as they pass each other, and let’s listen to the very short dialogue and find out what time of the day it is. Ready? |
| 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| 早。 (Zǎo.) |
| That’s it. Let’s listen to it one more time, a bit slower. |
| 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| 早。 (Zǎo.) |
| So, of course, it is in the morning because we heard 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo), which is “good morning” and 早 (zǎo) “morning.” |
| Okay, now let’s change up the scenario a little bit. Let’s say these two neighbours bumped into each other in the elevator when the sun was way up in the sky. Let’s say one in the afternoon. So, will they still use 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) or 早 (zǎo) to greet each other? Mm-mm. Now, in this case, 你好 (nǐ hǎo) will be a better choice. |
| 你好 (nǐ hǎo) |
| Okay. Especially when they are still kind of new to each other. So, 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is a perfect one to use. It’s very brief and polite. |
| Now, let’s say one of the neighbours is holding a party at 9 at night, 9 o’clock at night, and he is greeting everybody, greeting his guests. So, which greeting will he use at this time? |
| 晚上好。 (Wǎnshang hǎo.) |
| 晚上好。 (Wǎnshang hǎo.) “Good evening.” |
| All right. Now, they have to say goodbye to each other. So, if it’s anytime during the day or even at night, they can choose from 拜拜 (báibái), 再见 (zàijiàn), and 下次见 (xiàcì jiàn), but when it’s late at night, like they’re going home, they’re going to bed, they’re not gonna see each other again that night, they would use...晚安 (wǎn’ān). |
| 晚安。 (Wǎn’ān.) |
| “Sleep well.” 晚安。 (Wǎn’ān.) |
| You may have noticed that the times I put on here are in the 24-hour clock format. While I would say the 24-hour is as common as the 12-hour clock format in China, especially when we need the information to be very clear, such as on a train schedule, on a meeting itinerary, you would often see this format of time. |
| So, here is how we greet each other and part ways, parting expressions at certain times, different times of the day. |
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