Chinese Phrases
These are the Mandarin phrases that actually come up — grouped by the situation you'll need them in, with pinyin, traditional characters where they differ, and a speaker button so you can hear each one. Where Mainland and Taiwan usage differs, we say so, because most phrase lists quietly teach you only one of them.
- 你好 nǐ hǎo — hello, safe with anyone
- 谢谢 xièxie — thank you
- 不好意思 bù hǎo yìsi — sorry / excuse me, the one you'll use most
- 请问… qǐngwèn — "may I ask…", the polite opener for any question
- 我听不懂 wǒ tīng bu dǒng — "I don't understand", said kindly, buys you everything
Greetings
你好 is correct everywhere, but between people who know each other it can sound a little formal — friends greet with a name, a 嗨, or just 早.
Hello.
Literally "you good." Never wrong, slightly formal between friends.
Hello (respectful).
For elders, customers, officials. 您 is the polite "you".
FormalMorning!
What people actually say, far more than the textbook 早上好.
CasualGood morning.
The standard Mainland greeting.
MainlandGood morning.
The everyday form in Taiwan; 晚安 wǎn ān is its night-time partner.
TaiwanGood night.
Both a goodbye late in the evening and what you say at bedtime.
How have you been lately?
Use this instead of 你好吗, which natives rarely say to each other.
Politeness
Chinese politeness lives in sentence patterns more than in a single magic word. 请 is not sprinkled about the way English uses "please", and over-thanking someone close to you can read as putting distance between you.
Thank you.
谢谢你 adds warmth; 谢谢您 adds respect.
You're welcome.
Literally "don't be polite." The standard Mainland reply — 不 shifts to bú before a fourth tone, so you'll hear bú kèqi.
MainlandYou're welcome / no problem.
The usual reply to 謝謝 in Taiwan — surprising the first time you hear it. Spoken as bú huì.
TaiwanI'm sorry.
Heavier than English "sorry" — a real apology, not a bump-in-the-aisle word.
Sorry / excuse me / how embarrassing.
The everyday one: squeezing past, arriving late, asking a favour.
It's fine / never mind.
The standard answer to an apology. 没事 méi shì is the casual version.
Excuse me, may I ask…
Open any question to a stranger with this and you sound instantly polite.
Please (in set phrases).
Not sprinkled through sentences like English "please" — it lives in fixed forms: 请坐, 请进, 请问.
Sorry for the trouble / thanks for going to the effort.
Said when someone does something inconvenient for you. Very natural.
Introducing yourself
My name is…
Follow with your name: 我叫 Ray.
What's your name?
Neutral. With adults you've just met, 怎么称呼 is smoother.
May I ask your surname?
Formal. The set reply is 免贵姓… miǎn guì xìng… ("just plain …").
FormalNice to meet you.
Fine anywhere; a warm handshake phrase.
When you don't understand
These four phrases do more work than any others on this page. Learn them before you travel.
I don't understand (what I'm hearing).
Different from 我不知道 "I don't know" — this is about comprehension.
Please say that again.
Please speak more slowly.
Add 请 at the front to soften it further.
Do you speak English?
Ask it in Chinese and people warm to you, even when the answer is no.
How do you say this in Chinese?
The single most useful sentence for learning in the wild.
Eating and drinking
Note that Chinese splits "delicious" by how you consume it: 好吃 for food you chew, 好喝 for anything you drink.
Delicious (food).
太好吃了 tài hǎo chī le = "so good!" — the compliment a cook wants.
Delicious (drinks).
Tea, soup, bubble tea — never 好吃.
I'll have this one.
Point at the menu. Works everywhere, always.
Waiter! (to call one over)
Normal and not rude in the Mainland. In Taiwan, 不好意思 gets attention instead.
MainlandThe bill, please.
结账 jié zhàng works too; in Taiwan you'll hear 買單 and 結帳.
I don't eat spicy food.
Swap 辣 for 肉 ròu (meat) or 牛肉 niúròu (beef) as needed.
Cheers!
Literally "dry the cup" — and sometimes meant literally. 随意 suíyì lets you sip instead.
Getting around
Where's the bathroom?
Swap in any place name: 地铁站, 机场, 医院.
How do I get to…?
请问，火车站怎么走？ is a complete, polite question.
How much is it?
That's too expensive.
便宜一点 piányi yìdiǎn — "a bit cheaper?" — is the follow-up.
I'm lost.
I want to go to…
Show the address to a driver and say it — that is a complete instruction.
What time is it?
I'm just looking.
The polite way to browse a shop without committing. Doubling 看 softens it.
Just a moment / hold on.
Emergencies
Worth memorising before you need them.
Help! (life-threatening)
For danger only. For everyday help, use 帮帮我 bāngbang wǒ.
I need a doctor.
I'm sick.
Point and say 我这里疼 wǒ zhèlǐ téng — "it hurts here."
Call the police.
请帮我报警 qǐng bāng wǒ bào jǐng — "please call the police for me."
Celebrations and encouragement
Happy birthday!
快乐 attaches to most festivals: 新年快乐, 圣诞快乐.
Congratulations!
Doubling it — 恭喜恭喜 — sounds warmer, not sillier.
You've got this! / Keep going!
Literally "add oil." Cheering, exams, hard days — it has no clean English twin.
Happy New Year!
恭喜发财 gōngxǐ fācái — "may you prosper" — is the Lunar New Year classic.
Everyday replies
OK / sure.
Chinese has no all-purpose "yes" — you echo the verb, or say 好的.
No problem.
I don't know.
Of course.
Goodbye.
In speech, 拜拜 bāibāi is far more common between friends.
Take care on your way. (host to a departing guest)
Literally "walk slowly." There's no English equivalent — and you will be told it constantly.
Go deeper on one phrase
Each of these guides takes a single phrase and covers every variant, the situations it fits, and the mistakes learners make with it.
- How to say hello in Chinese
- How to say thank you in Chinese
- How to say goodbye in Chinese
- How to say I love you in Chinese
- How to say happy birthday in Chinese
- How to count in Chinese
- Days of the week in Chinese
- Chinese numbers 1–100
- Food vocabulary in Chinese
- Family words in Chinese
Phrases are a start. Reading is how they stick.
Memorising a phrase list gets you through a week of travel; it doesn't build a language. What moves vocabulary from "I studied that once" to "I just know it" is meeting the same words repeatedly in sentences that make sense to you. That's what free Chinese reading practice is for — 90+ graded stories you can read in your browser, with a pinyin toggle and tap-to-look-up on every word. If you're learning for Taiwan, start with traditional Chinese reading practice instead, and see how graded readers work for the method behind it.
Frequently asked questions
How many Chinese phrases do I need to get by?
For a short trip, the 55 on this page cover most situations you'll actually hit. For conversation, phrases stop being the unit that matters — you need vocabulary you can recombine, which comes from reading and listening rather than from lists.
Is the audio on this page a real speaker?
No — it's your device's built-in Chinese voice, which is why it can sound flat. It's reliable for checking which tone a syllable carries. Natural recorded narration for full stories lives in the Literate Chinese app.
Will these phrases work in both Mainland China and Taiwan?
Almost all of them, and where usage genuinely differs we've tagged the card — 早安 versus 早上好, 不會 versus 不客氣. Pronunciation differs a little more than vocabulary does; both are Mandarin and you will be understood either way.
Do I need to learn characters, or is pinyin enough?
Pinyin gets you speaking sooner, but it caps out fast: menus, signs, and messages are all in characters, and pinyin without tones is genuinely ambiguous. Most learners do best starting characters early in small doses — see how many characters you actually need.
