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

Join Scottish pupils as they give Mandarin a go!

Listen and guess what they are saying before trying yourself.

Tip: This video can be used as an interactive introduction to this topic or as a recap on key vocabulary and phrases already learnt.

Remember!

It doesn't matter if your pronunciation isn't perfect. Try your best and have fun!

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

In China, people often greet each other with:

Äã³ÔÁËÂ𣿠N¨« ch¨© le ma? - Have you eaten yet?

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

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

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

Here are some answers in Mandarin that you could try:

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

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

You can finish any conversation in Mandarin with a simple ÔÙ¼û z¨¤i ji¨¤n (goodbye).

Now you've learnt how to talk about yourself in Mandarin, let's put it into a conversation!

Tom: ÄãºÃ£¡ÄãºÃÂ𣿠N¨« ³ó¨£´Ç! N? h?o ma? - Hello! How are you?

Mary: ÎҺܺá£ÄãÄØ£¿ W¨¯ h¨§n ³ó¨£´Ç. N¨« ne? - I'm very good. And you?

Tom: Îҷdz£ºÃ, лл£¡ W¨¯ f¨¥i ch¨¢ng ³ó¨£´Ç, xi¨¨ xie ! - I'm great, thank you!

Mary: ÔÙ¼û! Z¨¤i ji¨¤n - Goodbye!

Tom: ÔÙ¼û! Z¨¤i ji¨¤n - Goodbye!

Have a conversation with a partner

You can use the conversation above and phrases in this guide to help you.

Give it a go and have fun!

Take your learning further

To practice what you've learnt check out our greetings song in Mandarin.