谈恋爱(tán liàn ài) - to date, to be in a relationship in Mandarin

谈恋爱 (tán liàn'ài) means "to date" or "to be in a romantic relationship". 谈 (tán) means "to talk, to chat", and 恋爱 (liàn'ài) means "romantic love", so the whole phrase is literally something like "to talk love" - it describes the whole ongoing state of a relationship, not a single date.

Duration goes in the middle, as with many separable verb-object phrases: 谈了两年恋爱 (tán le liǎng nián liàn'ài), "have been dating for two years", splits 谈 (tán) from 恋爱 (liàn'ài) to insert the length of time, rather than adding it to the end the way English would.

It is the word that comes up around a couple's status: 他在和谁谈恋爱 (tā zài hé shéi tán liàn'ài), "who is he dating", asks about the current partner, while 分手 (fēnshǒu), "to break up", and 结婚 (jiéhūn), "to marry", mark the two ways a period of 谈恋爱 (tán liàn'ài) usually ends.