Basic Mandarin Chinese Words and Phrases

Hello: Nǐhǎo (Nee how)

If there's only one word you learn, this is it. Use this to greet everyone from your taxi driver to your
waiter to the receptionist at the hotel front desk.

Thank you: Xièxiè (Shieh-shieh)

If there's a second word to know, this would be it. Always be a polite tourist.

You're welcome: Bù kèqì (Boo kuh-chi)

Respond with this if someone says "xièxiè (shieh-shieh)" to you.

Good morning: Zǎo (Zhow)

Instead of saying both hello (nǐhǎ o) and good morning, you can greet someone with just zǎo in the
morning.

Goodnight: Wǎn ān (One-un)

This is typically used when you're actually going to bed.

My name is…: Wǒ jiào... (Wuh jeow...)

This literally means "I am called..."

My friend's name is...: Wǒ de péngyǒu jiào… (Wuh duh pung-yo jeow...)

If you're traveling with a friend, you can now introduce him or her as well. If someone calls you
"peng you," don't worry: they're just calling you a friend.

Useful Chinese Slang and Mandarin Phrases for Travelers

Where is the bathroom: Xǐshǒujiān zài nǎlǐ? (See-sow-jian zai na-lee?)

This literally translates to "Where is the hand-washing room?" so you can mimic the motion of
washing your hands to help your chances of being understood. You will see 男 on the door for the
men's bathroom and 女 on the door of the women's.

How much?: Duō shǎo? (Dwuh shauw?)

Use this phrase to ask the price of something at a street market in China, Taiwan, or Singapore.

Too expensive: Tài guìle! (Tie gway luh!)

Impress them further by trying to haggle in Chinese — because you're usually given the tourist
price first. (Keep in mind that it's appropriate to haggle for souvenirs, clothing, shoes, and
accessories in markets, but food is typically sold at a fixed price.)

Make it cheaper: Piányí yī diǎn. (Pian-yee yee dian.)

Combine this phrase with the one above and you're well on your way to becoming a fluent haggler
in Chinese.

Very beautiful: Hĕn piàoliang (Hen peow-liung)

China is such a beautiful country, and you might want to tell your cab driver on the Bund,
"Shanghai hĕn piàoliang" or remark to your tour guide, "Guilin hĕn piàoliang," while admiring the
karst mountains.

Delicious: Hào chī (How chir); Very delicious: Hěn hào chī (Hen how chir)

The food is a main attraction in Chinese-speaking countries. Use this phrase to praise your host, the
waiter, the chef at a restaurant, or the cook at a street stand. If you're especially impressed with the
food, you can even say "Tài hào chīle (tie how chir luh)", which means "Too delicious."

Check, please: Măi dān (My dahn)

Try saying this at the end of your meal.

I don't understand: Wǒ bù dǒng (Wuh boo dong)

A good phrase to remember, as you will likely need it.

Let's go!: Wǒmen zǒu ba! (Wuh-men zoew bah!)

You can use this to signify you're ready to leave or to prompt your companions to get going.

Common Mandarin Chinese Words

Yes: Shì (Sheh)

No: Bù shì (Bu-sheh)

Good: Hǎ o (How)

Bad: Bù hǎ o (Boo-how)

Today: Jīntiān (Jeen-tian)

Tomorrow: Míngtiān (Meeng-tian)

Yesterday: Zuótiān (Zwuh-tian)

Goodbye: Zàijiàn (Zhai-jian)

 Hello: 你好 – nǐ hǎo
 I am: 我是 – wǒ shì
 How are you?: 你好吗 – nǐ hǎo ma
 I’m good thanks: 我很好的谢谢 – wǒ hěn hǎo xiè xiè
 Have you eaten?: 你吃了吗 – nǐ chī le ma
 Nice to meet you: 很高兴认识你 – hěn gāo xìng rèn shi nǐ
 What is your name?: 你叫什么名字 – nǐ jiào shén me míng zì？
 My name is: 我叫 – wǒ jiào
 My friend’s name is: 我朋友叫 – wǒ péngyǒu jiào
 I’m from X: 我来自 X – wǒ lái zì X
 Where are you from?: 你来自哪里 – nǐ lái zì nǎ li
 Goodbye: 再见 – zài jiàn
 Please: 请 – qǐng
 Thank you: 谢谢 – xiè xiè
 You’re welcome: 不客气 – bú kè qì
 I’m sorry: 对不起 – duì bu qǐ
 Excuse me: 打扰一下 – dǎ rǎo yí xià
 Yes: 是 – shì
 No: 不是 – bù shì
 I’m good thanks: 我很好谢谢 – wǒ hěn hǎo xiè xiè
 And you?: 你呢 – nǐ ne
 Good morning (early morning): 早上好 – zǎo shàng hǎo
 Good morning (late morning): 上午好 – shàng wǔ hǎo
 Good afternoon (only to be used around midday): 中午好 – zhōng wǔ hǎo
 Good afternoon: 下午好 – xià wǔ hǎo
 Good evening: 晚上好 – wǎn shàng hǎo
 Goodnight: 晚安 – wǎn ān
 Where is X?: X 在哪 – X zài nǎ
 How do I get to X?: 怎么去 X – zěn me qù
 How far is X?: X 有多远 – X yǒu duō yuǎn
 Can you show me on a map?: 你能在地图上给我看看吗 – nǐ néng zài dì tú shàng
gěi wǒ kàn kan ma？
 Can you write that down?: 你能把它写下来吗 – nǐ néng bǎ tā xiě xià lái ma？
 How much does it cost?: 它的价格是多少 – tā de jià gé shì duō shǎo？
 What is this?: 这是什么 – zhè shì shén me
 What time is it?: 现在几点 – xiàn zài jǐ diǎn
 Do you have X?: 你有 X 吗 – nǐ yǒu X ma
 Do you have anything cheaper?: 你们有便宜一点的吗 – nǐ men yǒu pián yi yì diǎn
de ma
 Do you like?: 你喜欢 X 吗 – nǐ xǐ huan X ma
 What is the best X?: 最好的 X 是什么 zuì hǎo de X shì shénme
 How do you say X?: X 怎么说 – X zěn me shuō ？
 What is fun to do in Beijing? 北京哪里好玩儿 Běijīng nǎ lǐ hǎo wán er
 What do you recommend?: 你有什么建议 – nǐ yǒu shén me jiàn yì
 Where can I X? 我在哪里可以 X – wǒ zài nǎ li kě yǐ X
 One: 一 yī
Two: 二 ér
Three: 三 sān
Four: 四 sì
Five: 五 wǔ
Six: 六 liù
 Seven: 七 qī
Eight: 八 bā
Nine: 九 jiǔ
Ten: 十 shí
One hundred: 一百 yì bǎi
One thousand: 一千元 yì qiān yuán
 Here: 这 – zhè
There: 那 – nà
Place: 地方 – dì fang
Restaurant: 餐厅 – cān tīng
Cafe: 咖啡馆 – kā fēi guǎn
  Hotel: 酒店 – jiǔ diàn
Airport: 机场 – jī chǎng
Train station: 火车站 – huǒ chē zhàn
Bus station: 汽车站 – qì chē zhàn
Supermarket: 超市 – chāo shì
 Airplane: 飞机 – fēi jī
 Train: 火车 – huǒ chē
 Taxi: 出租车 – chū zū chē
 Car: 车 – chē
 Bus: 公共汽车 – gōng gòng qì chē
 Left: 左边 – zuǒ biān
 Right: 右边 – yòu biān
 Straight: 直 – zhí
 Backwards: 向后 – xiàng hòu

Likes and Dislikes in Chinese

 I like: 我喜欢 – wǒ xǐ huān
 I don’t like: 我不喜欢 – wǒ bù xǐ huān
 I’d like to go to X: 我想去 X – wǒ xiǎng qù X
 I’m allergic to X: 我对 X 过敏 – wǒ duì X guò mǐn

Ordering in Chinese
 I would like X: 我想 X – wǒ xiǎng X
 Can I have X?: 你们有 X 吗？nǐmen yǒu X ma?
 Do you speak English?: 你会说英语吗 – nǐ huì shuō yīng yǔ ma
 Menu, please: 请给我菜单 – qǐng gěi wǒ cài dān
 Bill please: 买单 – mǎi dān
 This: 这 – zhè
 That: 那 – nà

Food in Chinese
 Noodles: 面条 – miàn tiáo
 Rice: 米饭 – mǐ fàn
 Chicken: 鸡肉 – jī ròu
 Beef: 牛肉 – niú ròu
 Pork: 猪肉 – zhū ròu
 Vegetarian: 素食者 – sù shí zhě

Water: 水 – shuǐ
Coffee: 咖啡 – kā fēi
Cola: 可乐 – kě lè
Beer: 啤酒 – pí jiǔ

Misunderstandings in Chinese
 Repeat, please: 请再说一遍 qǐng zài shuō yībiàn
 More slowly, please: 请慢嗲 – qǐng màn diē
 I don’t understand: 我不明白 – wǒ bù míng bái
 I’m sorry, I don’t speak Mandarin: 对不起, 我不会说汉语 duìbùqǐ, wǒ bù huì shuō
hànyǔ
  What does X mean?: X 是什么意思 – X shì shén me yì si

Help in Chinese
 Help: 帮助 – bāng zhù
 Caution: 谨慎 – jǐn shèn
 Danger: 危险 – wēi xiǎn
 Emergency: 紧急 – jǐn jí
 Fire: 火 – huǒ
Pronouns in Chinese

Mandarin speakers drop pronouns if it’s obvious who they’re talking about. But they
are used for emphasis.

As a learner, it’s useful to use the correct pronouns as you speak. This helps you make
sure you structure your sentences well.

1. I/me – 我 (wǒ)

There’s also no accusative case. So if you want to say “me” rather than “I”, keep using 我.

2. You – 你 (nǐ)

You’ll see this in 你好 (nǐ hǎo) – “hello”. It’s an informal way to address somebody, so
use it when you’re talking in casual, social settings. The more formal form of address is 您
(nín). Use this when you want to show formality, such as in a business setting.

3. He/she/it – these are all pronounced the same – (tā)

You’ll need to guess the meaning from context when listening to someone speaking. In
writing though, they have distinct characters – ‘he’ (他) / ‘she’(她) / ‘it’ (它).

For plural pronouns, just add 们 / men. For example, “us” is 我们 / wǒ men, and “they” for
a male or mixed group is 他们 / tā men. There is no irregularity, such as with “I” and “us”.

If you want to indicate possession, add a 的 / de after the pronoun. It is sort of like
adding an apostrophe and s in English and it has many uses. This makes it one of the most
common Chinese words.

“This” and “that” work exactly the same as in English. You need to know whether the thing
you’re talking about is near or far from you. Notice the different plural marker – 些 (xiē).

4. This – 这 (zhè)

Use this when the thing you’re talking about is close to you, or you need
to emphasize which of a particular thing you’re talking about.

5. That – 那 (nà)

This basic word will be useful when the thing you’re talking about is not close to you.
To make “this” and “that” into their plurals, “these’” and “those”, just add
些 (xiē) afterward. So if you want to talk about the people (人 / rén) over there, you would
refer to them as “those people” 那些人 (nà xiē rén).

Question words in Chinese

Here are the common question words in Chinese:

6. What – 什么 (shén me)

This works in the same way as the English word for “what”, except that it can go in more
places in the sentence – “What is that?” – 那是什么？(Zhè shì shénme?), or literally “That is
(是) what?”. To answer, simply substitute the question word for whatever “that” is.

7. When – 什么时候 (shén me shí hòu)

This literally translates as “what time wait”.

8. How many – 几 (jǐ)

Use this for countable things like objects.

9. How much – 多少 (duō shao)

This literally translates as “many few”. Use this to ask about money and prices.

10. Who – 谁 (shéi)

Use this in the same way you would use the question word “who” in English. You can
also use 谁 when asking who’s knocking at your door.

11. Where – 哪里 (nǎ lǐ)

The second character, 里 (lǐ), is also used as a preposition to mean “in”.

12. Yes/no indicator – 吗 (mā)

Place this at the end of a sentence to make it into a yes/no question.

It’s important to be polite when you’re learning to speak Chinese. In addition to

“hello”, 你好 (nǐ hǎo), these phrases will help.

13. My name is – 我叫 (wǒ jiào)

叫 (jiào) is a verb that means “to be called”, so use it when you want to tell someone
your name. For example, “我叫 Noreen” means “my name is Noreen”.

14. Please – 请 (qǐng)

Put it at the start of your sentences to say “please”. It is also a verb to mean invite or
request.

15. Sorry – 对不起 (duì bù qǐ)

Use this to apologize to someone.

16. Thank you – 谢谢 (xiè xiè)

Add emphasis by adding 你 to the end – 谢谢你!

17. Good morning – 早 (zǎo)

This literally means “morning” and it’s the most casual way to say good morning. A
slightly more formal way to say this would be 早安 (zǎo ān), or “morning peace”. And the
top level of formality is 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo), or literally “early morning good”.
18. Good evening or goodnight

This follows the same pattern as for “good morning”. The character for “evening” is 晚
(wǎn), so it’s simply 晚 (wǎn) for a casual “evening”, and 晚上好 (wǎnshang hǎo) for
a formal evening greeting. 晚安 (wǎn ān) is used more as a goodnight farewell when
someone is going to bed, rather than as a greeting.

19. Goodbye – 再见 (zàijiàn)

The literal translation of this is “meet again”.

One thing that learners will appreciate about Chinese verbs is that they only take one
form. There’s no need to conjugate for tense or aspect. If you want to put a verb in the
past, simply put 了 (le) after it to show that it’s finished. And for the future, add in 会 (huì)
before it.

If you want to negate a verb, you either need to add 不 (bù) or 没 (méi) before the verb.

20. To be – 是 (shì)

Use this when talking about yourself, such as describing your country of origin. For
example, 我是美国人 (wǒ shì měi guó rén) = “I am American” or literally “I am American
person”.

21. To have – 有 (yǒu)

You’ll see this verb pop up a lot. As well as being another way to indicate possession, it
has many other grammatical meanings. These include indicating something’s state, 我的家
有多人 (wǒ de jiā yǒu duō rén) – “There are a lot of people at home”, or “There are a lot of
people in my family”.

22. To go – 去 (qù)

For example, 我去那里 (wǒ qù nàlǐ) means “I go there”.

23. To eat – 吃 (chī)

A very important word. If you want to say that something tastes good, just add “good” to
the verb to make 好吃 (hǎo chī), or literally “good eat”.

24. To drink – 喝 (hē)

Notice that eat and drink both have the same radical 口 (kǒu), which means “mouth”.

25. To want or need something – 要 (yào)

For example, 我要水 (wǒ yào shuǐ) means “I want water”.

26. “Would like” or “desire” something – 想 (xiǎng)

For example, 我想去喝水 (wǒ xiǎng qù hē shuǐ) means “I would like to go drink water”.

27. To be located somewhere – 在 (zài)

If you need to say something “is somewhere”, you shouldn’t directly translate from English
and use 是 (shì). Instead, use 在 (zài).
28. To give – 给 (gěi)

If you want to ask for something, it’s perfectly polite to say “give me”, 给我 … (gěi wǒ… ),
before stating the object you want. It might sound a little rude and direct to English
speakers, but in Chinese it’s fine.

There’s not really a single way to say “yes” and “no” in Chinese. What you have to do is
listen to the question being asked – if you hear a 吗 (ma) at the end of it, you know it
needs a yes/no answer.

Rather than using “yes” or “no”, however, you need to repeat the verb that was used in
the question in either the affirmative or the negative. So if someone asks you 你要水吗
(nǐ yào shuǐ ma) or “do you want water?”, the answer would simply be 要 or “want” for
“yes” or 不要 “no want” for “no”.

Now you are familiar with the basic Chinese words and phrases, but there’s a lot more you
need to know to say them right. Let’s cover a few things learners of Chinese should
understand about the language.

Basics on the Chinese language

Tones

Although there are different Chinese languages, Chinese has a limited number of ways to
form words. Therefore, tones are essential in providing enough words to use.

There are four tones in Mandarin, plus a neutral tone:

 The first tone (-) is flat

 The second tone (´) rises

 The third tone (v) goes down, then up

 The fourth tone (`) falls

 The neutral tone is light

When you’re learning new Chinese words, it’s a good idea to try and remember which
tone it comes with. It might seem impossible at first, but persist and try to copy native
speakers’ pronunciation.

When writing in Chinese, it’s helpful to use a system called pinyin. It uses the same
alphabet as English, except that it adds tone marks above letters to indicate their tones.

For example, the most well-known word in Chinese is probably 你好, or nǐ

hǎo in pinyin. This literally translates to “you good”. Or in this case, “hello”!

In pinyin, the marks above the vowels in each word indicate that both words use the third
tone – falling and rising. If a mark is flat (e.g. ā), then it’s the first tone. If the mark
is rising, (á) it’s the second tone. If it falls and rises again, it’s the third tone, like our
example above. And if the mark is falling (à), then it’s the fourth tone. No mark means
it’s a neutral tone.

Remember, it’s better to try and fail in your pronunciation than to never attempt it!
Writing in Chinese

It’s true that Chinese has many characters that just need to be individually learned. It takes
roughly 2,500 to reach the level of an elementary school student! Chinese words are
represented by one or more characters. These characters bear no relation to
pronunciation. Each character is made up of building blocks called “radicals”, of which
there are about 200.

Each character contains different radicals working with one another. Along with other
characters, they can then become a word. As we mentioned above, however, a character
can also be a word on its own sometimes.

For example, the radical for “roof” is 宀(mián) in pinyin. Combine this radical with the
radical for “pig” 豕 (shǐ), you can make “home” (家 / jiā), or “treasure” (宝 / bǎo) if you
combine it with “jade” 玉 / yù).

As you progress and build a basic Chinese word list, you’ll start to see patterns emerging.
Soon you’ll be able to recognize the radicals in each character. If this seems tough, just
think about English. Many English spellings are very different from their actual
pronunciation and you have to memorize thousands of irregularly spelled words.

In fact, many school students in English-speaking countries get spelling tests throughout
their time at school, covering just over 2,000 words. It’s a similar process for learning
Chinese.

Chinese word formation

As you can see, Chinese words are formed by combining radicals. These words are then
further combined to create new words. For example, the Chinese word for “computer” is 电
脑 / diàn nǎo, which literally translates as “electric” (电 / diàn) + “brain” (脑 / nǎo)’!

There are thousands of these combinations in Chinese. One of the most famous examples
of a mysterious combination is 东西 / dōng xī. The literal translation is “east west”, but the
actual meaning is “thing” or “something”. How this originated is anyone’s guess, but 东西
is one of the most useful words you can know.

Rather than seeing this as a difficult thing, think about the amazing creativity that has
gone into creating all of these words. It’s incredible how expressive Chinese is as a result!