Mandarin Greetings and Survival Phrases: Say Something Today
Here is the good news nobody tells you at the start: you can hold your first Mandarin exchange before you have learned a single character or a single point of grammar.
Greetings and courtesies are fixed phrases in every language. Nobody assembles how do you do from parts, and you do not need to assemble the Mandarin either. Learn the dozen expressions below as whole things to say, in pinyin, the way you learned thank you as a small child, and you can greet a real Mandarin speaker this afternoon. The characters and the grammar are what make the rest of the language open up. They are not a toll you have to pay before you are allowed to say hello.
So today, these are just things to say.
Greetings
(nǐ hǎo). Hello. This is the one to learn first, because it works everywhere: any time of day, a friend or a total stranger, a shop or a street. If you remember nothing else off this page, remember 你好 (nǐ hǎo).
(nín hǎo). Hello, politely. Mandarin has a respectful you, 您 (nín), and swapping it in is the easiest act of courtesy in the language: use 您好 (nín hǎo) for someone older than you, a teacher, an official, or anyone you are meeting in a formal setting. Nobody is ever offended by it, and using it well marks you as someone who has bothered. When in doubt with a stranger clearly senior to you, reach for 您好 (nín hǎo); with friends and peers, plain 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is exactly right.
(zàijiàn). Goodbye - literally again see, which is a warmer thing to say than the English lets on.
Getting by
? (nǐ hǎo ma?) How are you? The textbook opener once you have said hello - and yes, it is real, though native speakers often open with something more concrete instead, like the famous 你吃了吗? (nǐ chī le ma?) - have you eaten? Everyone will understand 你好吗 (nǐ hǎo ma), and it is the right one to learn first.
(wǒ hěn hǎo). I'm fine. The standard reply, and worth banking as a pair with the question so the two arrive together.
... (wǒ jiào...) My name is - literally I am called. Put your name straight after it: 我叫 Ben (wǒ jiào Ben). No verb to conjugate, no word to change; your name just slots in.
? (nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?) What is your name? - you are called what name? Learn it as a block alongside 我叫 (wǒ jiào) and you own the complete first exchange of any conversation: hello, my name is, what is yours.
(wǒ tīng bu dǒng). I don't understand - literally I listen, not understand. Quietly the most useful sentence a beginner owns, because it keeps a conversation alive when everything else has fallen apart: it asks the other person to slow down or try again, instead of leaving them guessing.
Courtesies
(xièxie). Thank you. One syllable said twice, and understood even when the tones wobble. Say it often.
(bú kèqi). You're welcome - roughly don't be polite. The natural answer to 谢谢 (xièxie).
(qǐng). Please. One syllable that softens any request; put it at the front, the way a waiter says 请坐 (qǐng zuò), please sit.
(duìbuqǐ). Sorry. It covers a genuine apology and a polite excuse me for bumps and interruptions alike.
(méi guānxi). It's OK, never mind - literally no connection. The gracious reply to 对不起 (duìbuqǐ), and the pair are worth learning together.
A quiet promise for later
Look again at 再见 (zàijiàn) and 我听不懂 (wǒ tīng bu dǒng). Once you have learned how Mandarin builds meaning - single-syllable pieces clipping together like bricks - you will see straight through these phrases. 再 (zài) is again and 见 (jiàn) is see, so 再见 (zàijiàn) is see you again. 听 (tīng) is listen, 懂 (dǒng) is understand, and the 不 (bu) wedged between them says the listening does not reach understanding - a pattern you will meet again and again. 你好 (nǐ hǎo) itself is just you good. Nearly everything on this page comes apart into pieces you will recognise, and when it does, you will not so much have memorised these phrases as understood them.
But that is a treat for a later week. Today they are just things to say - so go and say one.