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It¡¯s important to know how to greet people and respond in Mandarin.

The Mandarin greetings song

You can practise greetings in Mandarin with this fun song:

It is important to remember that singing in Mandarin changes the tones.

Download the lyrics sheet here.

Sing along: Mandarin greetings
A boy and girl dance.

'Hello' in Mandarin

A common way to say ¡®hello¡¯ in Mandarin is n? h?o.

In China, people often greet each other with:

N¨« ch¨© le ma? - Have you eaten yet?

A boy and girl dance.

Your greeting might also change depending on the time of day:

MandarinPinyinEnglish
z¨£o ¨¡ngood morning
w¨³ ¨¡ngood afternoon
w¨£n ¨¡ngood night
A boy smiles and points at a girl who is also smiling.

'How are you?' in Mandarin

To ask a person how they are feeling in Mandarin, you can use:

N? h?o ma? - How are you? or You good?

Here are some answers in Mandarin that you could try:

MandarinPinyinEnglish
f¨¥i ch¨¢ng ³ó¨£´Çgreat
h¨§n ³ó¨£´Çvery good
³ó¨£´Çgood
b¨´ t¨¤i ³ó¨£´Çnot so good

To be polite, you can thank them for asking with xi¨¨ xie (thank you).

You can then return the question with N¨« ne? (And you?)

'Goodbye' in Mandarin

You can finish any conversation in Mandarin with a simple z¨¤i ji¨¤n (goodbye).

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