Beginner 002: Nǐhǎo

Nǐhǎo.

Nǐhǎo is simply "Hello", or as we say in New Zealand "G'day". It's pronounced "knee-how". The little symbols above the ǐ and ǎ are tones. Don't worry about tones in this lesson. In fact, it really doesn't matter what tones you use to say Hello in Chinese, most people will understand you and be pleased that you are attempting to learn their language.

That's one of the things that I was worried about when I first started learning. I thought that some Chinese might be offended if I pronounced something wrong, used the wrong tones, or even the wrong words. But this could not be further from the truth. All of the Chinese people that I have met are wonderful people that are always happy when I say something even simple in Chinese. My partner will correct me of course because I have asked her to, but others will just be very friendly and pleased that you are trying.

So Nǐhǎo to you on this journey.

So now you have learned two words, yes that's right, two. You see, Nǐhǎo literally translates into "you good". It's like saying "how are you" in English - well, almost. So Nǐ (knee) means "you" and hǎo (how) means "good". two words, you and good, that can be used in other sentences.

But Nǐhǎo is a statement like "Hello". In English, we might say "Hello, how are you?", but in Chinese we simply put a question after Nǐhǎo - remember, it's the context in which things are said, the "indicator", not the different spellings etc that English has so it's a lot easier than other languages.

So to say "Hello, How are you?" in Chinese, we simply add the question indicator "Nǐhǎo mā". Ma is a short "Ma" like in "Mama (& Papa)". So the actual translation is "(are) you good?".

Let's jump ahead to a conversation. You are talking to a friend you have not met in a few days.

You: Nǐhǎo
Friend: Nǐhǎo mā
You: Hěnhǎo hěnhǎo, nǐ ne
Friend: Wǒ hěnhǎo, xièxiè


Confusing? I should think so! But lets take a look at it, you'll recognise the first two sentances. That conversation is translated as..

You: Hello
Friend: How are you?
You: Very good very good, and you?
Friend: I'm very good, thank you

Hěnhǎo is another two-word combination that means "very good" Hěn (pronounced "hen") and you should recognise hǎo already from Nǐhǎo - meaning "good".

So already we are using the same words in a different context. "you good" and "very good" as "Nǐhǎo" and "Hěnhǎo".

Do you also recognise the Nǐ as in Nǐhǎo used here in Nǐ na? Yes, Nǐ means "you". "Na" used here means a question "and" in "and you?". So "Hěnhǎo hěnhǎo, Nǐ ne", means "Very good very good, and you?"

"Wǒ hěnhǎo, xièxiè" means "I'm very good, thank you". Wǒ is I, so again, Chinese have done away with saying "I am" here because it's obvious what you are saying, just say "I" for "I very good". Wǒ hěnhǎo - I'm very good.

Xièxiè is a word that you'll get the hang of soon enough and you can use it even when you can't say anything else. It just means "Thank you" and is pronounced shea-shea as in shearing a sheep - shea(r)-shea(r). It's normally said quickly.

So, xièxiè for reading today's post and I hope you'll join me again next lesson.