The Mandarin Chinese is the official language of China continental and Taiwan, and is one of the official languages of Singapore. In English, it is usually called "Mandarin" or "Chinese". In china, it is called Putonghua (普通话), which means "common speech", while in Taiwan it is referred to as Guoyu (國語), "the national language". It has been the "primary language of education in China" (excluding Hong Kong Y Macau) since the 1950s. Standard Mandarin is close to, but not identical with, the Mandarin dialect of the area of Beijing.
Note that while the Mandarin spoken in the places above is more or less the same, the written characters are different. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau still use traditional characters, while mainland China and Singapore use a simplified derivative. However, an educated person living in mainland China or Singapore can still understand traditional characters but not necessarily vice versa (Taiwanese people may have difficulty recognizing some simplified characters).
Phrases
All phrases shown here use the traditional characters used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Y Macau. For simplified characters used in China continental, look at the chinese guide.
Basic expressions
- Hello.
- 你好。 Nǐ hǎo.
- How are you?
- 你 好嗎？ Nǐ hǎo ma?
- Fine thanks.
- 很好, 謝謝。 Hěn hǎo, xièxie.
- What's your name?
- 你 叫 什麼 名字？ Nǐ jiào shénme minagzi?
- My name is _____.
- 我 叫 _____。 Wǒ jiào ______.
- Nice to meet you.
- 很 高興 認識 你。 Hěn gāoxìng rènshì nǐ.
- Please.
- 請。 Qǐng.
- Thanks.
- 謝謝。 xièxie.
- Welcome.
- 不客氣。 Bú kèqi.
- Sorry. (receiving attention)
- 請問 qǐng wèn.
- Sorry. (asking forgiveness)
- 打擾 一下。 Dǎrǎo yixià;麻煩 您 一下, Máfan nǐ yíxià.
- Sorry.
- 對不起。 Duìbùqǐ.
- Goodbye.
- 再見。 Zàijiàn.
- Goodbye. (informal)
- 拜拜。 Bai-bai.
- I can not speak Chinese.
- 我 不會 說 漢語。 Wǒ bu huì shuō hànyǔ.
- Speak English?
- 你 會 說 英語 嗎？ Nǐ huì shuō yīngyǔ ma?
- Is there anyone here who speaks English?
- 這裏 有人 會 說 英語 嗎？ Zhèlǐ yǒu rén huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma?
- Help! (in emergencies)
- 救命! Jiù mìng!
- Good Morning.
- 早安。 Zǎo ān.
- Good night. (greeting)
- 晚上 好。 Wǎnshàng hǎo.
- Good night. (firing)
- 晚安。 Wǎn ān.
- I do not understand.
- 我 聽 不懂。 Wǒ tīng bù dǒng.
- Where is the bathroom?
- 廁所 在 哪里？ Cèsuŏ zài nǎli?
Problems
- Leave me alone.
- 不要 打擾 我。 (buyào dǎrǎo wǒ)
- Do not touch me!
- 不要 碰 我！ (owào pèng wǒ!)
- I'll call the police.
- 我 要 叫 警察 了。 (wǒ yào jiào jǐngchá le)
- Policeman!
- 警察！ (jǐngchá!)
- Tall! Thief!
- 住手！ 小偷！ (zhùshǒu! Xiǎotōu!)
- I need your help.
- 我 需要 你 的 幫助。 (wǒ xūyào nǐde bāngzhù)
- Is an emergency.
- 這 是 緊急 情況。 (zhèshì jǐnjí qíngkuàng)
- I'm lost.
- 我 迷路 了。 (wǒмlù le)
- I lost my backpack.
- 我 丟 了 手提包。 (wǒ diūle shǒutíbāo)
- I lost my wallet.
- 我 丟 了 錢包。 (wǒ diūle qiánbāo)
- I'm sick.
- 我 生病 了。 (wǒ shēngbìng le)
- I have injured myself.
- 我 受傷 了。 (wǒ shòushāng le)
- I need a doctor.
- 我 需要 醫生。 (wǒ xūyào yīshēng)
- Can I use your phone?
- 我 可以 打 個 電話 嗎？ (wǒ kěyǐ dǎ ge diànhuà ma?)
Numbers
Chinese numbers are very regular. While western numbers have become more common, the Chinese numerals shown below are still used, particularly in informal contexts like markets. The characters in parentheses are generally used in financial contexts, such as check writing or banknote printing.
- 0 〇, 零
- ling
- 1 一 (壹)
- yī
- 2 二 (貳)
- èr
- 3 三 (叄)
- saint
- 4 四 (肆)
- Yes
- 5 五 (伍)
- wǔ
- 6 六 (陸)
- liù
- 7 七 (柒)
- what
- 8 八 (捌)
- bā
- 9 九 (玖)
- hee
- 10 十 (拾)
- shí
- 11 十一
- shí-yī
- 12 十二
- shí-èr
- 13 十三
- shí-sān
- 14 十四
- shí-sì
- 15 十五
- shí-wǔ
- 16 十六
- shí-liù
- 17 十七
- shí-qī
- 18 十八
- shí-bā
- 19 十九
- shi-hee
- 20 二十
- èr-shí
- 21 二十 一
- èr-shí-yī
- 22 二 十二
- èr-shí-èr
- 23 二十 三
- èr-shí-sān
- 30 三十
- sān-shí
- 40 四十
- yes-shí
- 50 五十
- wǔ-shí
- 60 六十
- liù-shí
- 70 七十
- qī-shí
- 80 八十
- bā-shí
- 90 九十
- hee-shi
For numbers above 100, anyone can be filled with 〇líng, as an example 一百 一 yībǎiyī otherwise it would be taken as an abbreviation for "110". A single unit of ten can be written and pronounced 一 十 yīshí or just 十 shí, either.
- 100 一百 (壹佰)
- yī-bǎi
- 101 一百 〇 一
- yī-bǎi-ling-yī
- 110 一百 一 十
- yī-bǎi-yī-shí
- 111 一百 一 十一
- yī-bǎi-yī-shí-yī
- 200 二百
- èr-bǎi
- 300 三百
- sān-bǎi
- 500 五百
- wǔ-bǎi
- 1000 一千 (壹仟)
- yī-qiān
- 2000 二千
- èr-qiān
Numbers starting from 10,000 are grouped into four-digit units starting with 万 wàn (ten thousand). "One million" in Chinese is therefore "one hundred thousand-thousand" (一 百万).
- 10,000 一 萬
- yī-wàn
- 10,001 一 萬 〇 一
- yī-wàn-ling-yī
- 10,002 一 萬 〇 二
- yī-wàn-ling-èr
- 20,000 二萬
- èr-wàn
- 50,000 五萬
- wǔ-wàn
- 100,000 十萬
- shí-wàn
- 200.0000 二 十萬
- èr-shí-wàn
- 1,000,000 一 百萬
- yī-bǎi-wàn
- 10,000,000 一 千萬
- yī-qiān-wàn
- 100,000,000 一 億
- yīyì
- 1,000,000,000,000 一 兆
- yīzhào
- number _____ (train, bus, etc.)
- number of measure word (路 lù or 號 hào etc.) _____ (火車 huǒchē, 公共汽車 gōnggòng qìchē, etc.) Measure words are used in combination with a number to indicate the count of mass nouns.
- half
- 半 bàn (...)
- less
- 少於 shǎoyū (...)
- more
- 多於 duōyū (...)
Weather
- now
- 現在 xiànzài
- later
- 以後 yǐhòu or 稍後 shāohòu
- before
- 以前 yǐqián
- morning
- 早上 zǎoshàng
- afternoon
- 下午 xiàwǔ
- evening
- 傍晚 bàngwǎn
- night
- 晚上, wǎnshàng
Clock time
- What time is it?
- 現在 幾點？ Xiànzài jǐ diǎn?
- It's nine o'clock.
- 早上 9 點鐘。 Zǎoshàng jiǔ diǎn zhōng.
- Three thirty PM.
- 下午 3 點 半. Xiàwǔ sān diǎn bàn.
Duration
- _____ minutes)
- _____ 分鐘 fēnzhōng
- _____ hours)
- _____ 小時 xiǎoshí
- _____ days)
- _____ 天 tiān or _____ 日 rì
- _____ weeks)
- _____ _____ 星期 xīngqī
- _____ months)
- _____ 月 yùe
- _____ years)
- _____ 年 nián
Days
- today
- 今天 jīntiān
- Yesterday
- 昨天 zuótiān
- morning
- 明天 mingtiān
- this week
- 這個 星期 zhège xīngqī
- In the past week
- 上個星期 shàngge xīngqī
- next week
- 下個星期 xiàge xīngqī
Chinese days of the week are easy: starting with 1 for Monday, just add the name after 星期 xīngqī.
- Sunday
- 星期天 xīngqītiān or 星期日 xīngqīrì
- Monday
- 星期一 xīngqīyī
- Tuesday
- 星期二 xīngqīèr
- Wednesday
- 星期三 xīngqīsān
- Thursday
- 星期四 xīngqīsì
- Friday
- 星期五 xīngqīwǔ
- Saturday
- 星期六 xīngqīliù
Months
The months in Chinese: starting with 1 for January, just add the number after 月 yuè.
- January
- 一月, yī yuè
- February
- 二月, èr yuè
- March
- 三月, sān yuè
- April
- 四月, yes yuè
- may
- 五月, wŭ yuè
- June
- 六月, liù yuè
- July
- 七月, qī yuè
- August
- 八月, bā yuè
- September
- 九月, hee yuè
- October
- 十月, shí yuè
- November
- 十一月, shí yī yuè
- December
- 十二月, shí èr yuè
From January to December, you only need to use this pattern: number (1-12) yuè.