Let’s learn some simple Mandarin greetings that you can use daily.<\/p>\n
Probably what comes to mind when we mention Mandarin is the phrase \u201c\u4f60\u597d\u201dn\u01d0 h\u01ceo, which means ‘hello’. Apart from ‘n\u01d0 h\u01ceo’, what are some other common greetings we use in a day? In the morning, we say \u201c\u65e9\u5b89\u201dz\u01ceo \u2019\u0101n\u3001 \u201c\u65e9\u201dz\u01ceo In the afternoon, other than ‘n\u01d0 h\u01ceo’, we also say \u201c\u5348\u5b89\u201dw\u01d4 \u2019\u0101n ‘Good evening’ is And ‘good night’ is I’ve listed greetings that can be used in a day, but in reality, how often do we use them? This might sound like a weird question, but I think it’s a question worth asking, and answering, of course.<\/p>\n With people we meet regularly, we hardly say ‘n\u01d0 h\u01ceo’. And indeed, phrases like ‘xi\u00e0w\u01d4 h\u01ceo’ and ‘w\u01d4 \u2019\u0101n’ do sound rather formal. In replacement, one common expression used is At gatherings, we like to say \u201c\u8fd9\u4e48\u65e9\uff01\u201dzh\u00e8me z\u01ceo \u201c\u51fa\u53bb\u5417\uff1f\u201dch\u016bqu ma \u201c\u53bb\u4e70\u4e1c\u897f\uff1f\u201dq\u00f9 m\u01cei d\u014dngxi \u201c\u521a\u56de\u6765\uff1f\u201dg\u0101ng hu\u00edlai By the way, in the morning, ‘z\u01ceo’ is more casual and common than ‘z\u01ceoshang h\u01ceo’ and ‘z\u01ceo \u2019\u0101n’.<\/p>\n Another point to note about ‘w\u01cen \u2019\u0101n’ is this: Apparently this phrase has indeed started to acquire a new meaning among the youngsters in Mainland China. Apart from the traditional meaning of ‘good night’, it now has another subtle layer embedded – ‘I love you’. I bet you wouldn’t have thought of that! This can be deciphered from the pinyin of the two expressions. ‘I love you’ in Mandarin is \u201c\u6211\u7231\u4f60\u201d, and the pinyin is ‘w\u01d2 \u00e0i n\u01d0’. When we repeat it, it becomes ‘w\u01d2 \u00e0i n\u01d0 (w\u01d2) \u00e0i n\u01d0’. Take the initial letters from ‘W\u01d2 \u00c0i N\u01d0 \u00c0i N\u01d0’, and there you have it – ‘w\u01cen \u2019\u0101n’. People of my generation wouldn’t say ‘I love you’ – it’s not something we express verbally. But I guess ‘w\u01cen \u2019\u0101n’ as a disguised form of ‘I love you’ is still implicit, and I have to take my hat off to the youngsters!<\/p>\n Until next time!<\/p>\n Let’s learn some simple Mandarin greetings that you can use daily. Probably what comes to mind when we mention Mandarin is the phrase \u201c\u4f60\u597d\u201dn\u01d0 h\u01ceo, which means ‘hello’. 01 ni hao You can use it when you...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[293,78,79,82,177],"tags":[235,236,232],"class_list":["post-3458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-culture","category-greetings","category-mandarin","category-useful-phrases","tag-beginner","tag-changing-mandarin","tag-elementary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n01 ni hao<\/a>
\nYou can use it when you meet someone for the first time. It’s also used with people you know, and you can say it pretty much any time of the day, a very convenient phrase to know!<\/p>\n
\n\u201c\u65e9\u4e0a\u597d\u201dz\u01ceoshang h\u01ceo\u3001
\n02 zaoshang hao<\/a><\/p>\n
\n03 zao an<\/a><\/p>\n
\n04 zao<\/a>
\nwhich all mean ‘good morning’.<\/p>\n
\n\u201c\u4e0b\u5348\u597d\u201dxi\u00e0w\u01d4 h\u01ceo\u3001
\n05 xiawu hao<\/a><\/p>\n
\n06 wu an<\/a>
\nwhich both mean ‘good afternoon’.<\/p>\n
\n\u201c\u665a\u4e0a\u597d\u201dw\u01censhang h\u01ceo
\n08 wanshang hao<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u201c\u665a\u5b89\u201dw\u01cen \u2019\u0101n
\n09 wan an<\/a>
\n(This, in Taiwan, can mean ‘good evening’.)<\/p>\n
\n\u201c\u5403\u996d\u4e86\u5417\uff1f\u201dch\u012b f\u00e0n le ma
\n10 chi fan le ma<\/a>
\nwhich literally means ‘Have you eaten?’ The person asking may or may not be genuinely interested in your answer – it’s just a natural question that many people ask when they bump into each other.<\/p>\n
\n\u201c\u6765\u5566\uff01\u201dl\u00e1i la
\n11 lai la<\/a>
\n‘You’re here!’<\/p>\n
\n12 zheme zao<\/a>
\n‘(You’re) very early!’<\/p>\n
\n13 chuqu ma<\/a>
\nwhich is literally ‘(Are you) going out?’<\/p>\n
\n14 qu mai dongxi<\/a>
\n‘Going shopping?’<\/p>\n
\n15 gang huilai<\/a>
\n‘(You’ve) just come back?’ You can see that we don’t really have fixed forms of greeting, we decide what to say according to the situation.<\/p>\n