Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Useful Chinese phrases: Introduction

This post will teach you some basic greetings, sayings and follow up questions. My examples will be mostly in this order: 1 Traditional Chinese characters, 2 Simplified Chinese characters, 3 Pinyin 拼音 (Romanization) and 4 English translation. As you may have heard or learned, Chinese is a tonal language, it has 5 tones, of which 4 are pitched and one is neutral or 'toneless'. How to pronounce them you can learn here. Those tones marks are seen in the pinyin Romanization.

1.0 Introduction and basic phrases

你好/您好!
你好/您好!
Nĭ hăo! / Nín hăo!
Hello! / Hello! (polite way)

你好嗎/您好嗎?
你好吗/您好吗!
Nĭ hăo ma? / Nín hăo ma?
How are you? / How are you? (polite way)

我很好, 謝謝。
我很好, 谢谢.
Wǒ hěn hǎo, xiè xiè.
I'm fine, thank you. ("很好" means "very good")

不客氣./不謝。
不客气./不谢.
Bú kè qi. / Bú xiè.
You're welcome. (in reply to 謝謝 thank you)

不好意思。
不好意思.
Bù hǎo yì sī.
Excuse me. (when passing by people on bus for example)
I'm sorry. (when you cause inconvenience to others)

對不起。
对不起.
Dueì bù qǐ.
Sorry.

沒關係。
没关系.
Méi guànxì.
It's ok. / Never mind. / Don't bother.

你叫什麼名字?
你叫什么名字?
Nĭ jìao shénme míngzì?
What's your name?

我叫寧諾。
我叫宁诺.
Wŏ jìao Níngnuo.
I am Nino.

很高興認識你。
很高兴认识你.
Hěn gāoxìng rènshi nǐ.
Nice to meet you.

你從哪裡來?
你从哪里来?
Nĭ cóng nálĭ lái?
Where are you from?

你是哪國人?
你是哪国人?
Nĭ shì ná guó rén?
What nationality are you?

我是從斯洛文尼亞來的。
我是从斯洛文尼亚来的.
Wŏ shì cóng Sīluòwénníyà lái de.
I am from Slovenia.

我是在斯洛文尼亞出生的。
我是在斯洛文尼亚出生的.
Wŏ shì zài Sīluòwénníyà chū shēng de.
I am born in Slovenia.

我是斯洛文尼亞人。
我是斯洛文尼亚人.
Wŏ shì Sīluòwénníyà rén.
I am Slovenian.

我在台灣。
我在台湾.
Wŏ zài Táiwān.
I'm in Taiwan.

你住在哪裡?
你住在哪里?
Nĭ zhù zài nálĭ?
Where do you live?

我住在台灣。
我住在台湾.
Wŏ zhù zài Táiwān.
I live in Taiwan.

你在哪裡工作?
你在哪里工作?
Nĭ zài nálĭ gōngzuò?
Where do you work?

我在台灣工作。
我在台湾工作.
Wŏ zài Táiwān gōngzuò.
I work in Taiwan.

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