Learn all you need to know about greetings in Chinese
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How do you greet someone at different times of the day? |
| Dehua: And are there any alternatives? |
| Michael: At ChineseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation: Ben Lee is greeting his friend, but he hasn't noticed how late it has become. Ben says, "Good morning!" |
| 李 本: 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| Dialogue |
| 李 本: 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| 刘 璐: 已经是下午3点了。下午好。 (Yǐjīng shì xiàwǔ sān diǎn le. Xiàwǔ hǎo.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| 李 本: 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| Michael: "Good morning." |
| 刘 璐: 已经是下午3点了。下午好。 (Yǐjīng shì xiàwǔ sān diǎn le. Xiàwǔ hǎo.) |
| Michael: "It's already 3:00 PM. Good afternoon." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we will talk about time-sensitive Chinese greetings. Chinese, similar to other languages, has some greetings that are used depending on the time of the day. Chinese speakers mostly differentiate between three particular times of the day, using the following greetings. The first is |
| Dehua: 早上好 (Zǎoshang hǎo), |
| Michael: meaning "Good morning," and used in the early morning hours. The first part of this phrase is… |
| Dehua: 早上 (zǎoshang), |
| Michael: which means "morning"; and the second part is |
| Dehua: 好 (hǎo), |
| Michael: which means "good." Simple! Ok, the second greeting is |
| Dehua: 下午好 (Xiàwǔ hǎo), |
| Michael: meaning "Good afternoon," which is used starting from noon to the evening at around 6:00 PM, and the last greeting is |
| Dehua: 晚上好 (Wǎnshàng hǎo), |
| Michael: meaning "Good evening." The last greeting is used starting from around 6:00 PM until the end of the day. As you can see, there are some similarities between English and Chinese when it comes to time-sensitive greetings. |
| Michael: But what if we'd like to replace those greetings with time-neutral ones? Then, we can simply say |
| Dehua: 嗨 (hāi), |
| Michael: which, as you have guessed, means "hi." It sounds just like its English equivalent. Actually, it's a loanword from English! The more authentic Chinese greeting is ... |
| Dehua: 你好 (Nǐ hǎo). |
| Michael: This expression is more formal. You can use it to greet your colleagues, people who are not very close to you, or strangers. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after Dehua focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Ben says "Good morning"? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 早上好。 (Zǎoshang hǎo.) |
| Michael: Now for our next sentence. Do you remember how to say "It's already 3:00 PM. Good afternoon?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 已经是下午3点了。下午好。 (Yǐjīng shì xiàwǔ sān diǎn le. Xiàwǔ hǎo.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 已经是下午3点了。下午好。 (Yǐjīng shì xiàwǔ sān diǎn le. Xiàwǔ hǎo.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 已经是下午3点了。下午好。 (Yǐjīng shì xiàwǔ sān diǎn le. Xiàwǔ hǎo.) |
| Cultural Expansion |
| Michael: At the end of the day, there's one more expression we use to wish others a "good night," and that's |
| Dehua: 晚安 (Wǎn'ān)! |
| Michael: Like its English counterpart, it's said before someone goes to bed. Can we hear it again? |
| Dehua: 晚安 (Wǎn'ān), 晚安 (Wǎn'ān). |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dehua: 再见！ (zàijiàn!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide