Learn Mandarin Chinese Lesson 1
How to say hello in Mandarin Chinese
In this lesson you’ll learn some key phrases in Mandarin Chinese including how to say hi and how to say nice to meet you. The first time you meet somebody you’ll need to say hello. To say hello or How are You in Mandarin Chinese you say: ní hǎo (你好). That literally means: You Good.
How to say my name is in Mandarin Chinese
To say my name is in Mandarin Chinese you say: wǒ jiào (我叫). Wǒ means me or I (the Chinese do not distinguish between me or I and just have one character to express both). Jiào means to be named or called. Make sure you say this with a clear four falling tone.
How to say nice to meet you in Mandarin Chinese
To say “nice to meet you” in Mandarin Chinese say: hěn gāo xìng rèn shì nǐ (很高兴认识你). Hěn means very. I kind of exaggerate the tone in the video! To say happy say gāo xìng. Make sure you get the tones right: first tone on gao and fourth tone on xing. The “X” sounds like “sh”. Rèn shì means to know or to be acquainted with somebody. It does NOT mean to know something.
I hope this helped and appreciate any feedback below.
May 12th, 2009 at 5:00 am
hello ..
i found your blog..i’m 14 years old and i want to learn how mandarin is.. but i dont know what is the meaning of first tone,third tone and etc. i think i need it first..can you mail me what are the meanings of tones in mandarin? i really beg you.. and i really thank that you made a greet blog..
sincerely,
paula lim
May 12th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Dear Paula,
In Mandarin you can pronounce characters in four different tones: flat (first tone), rising (second tone), dipping (third tone) and falling (fourth tone).
Here I have a short video on the four tones. I hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any more questions and good luck studying Mandarin!
http://www.freechineseblog.com/fundamentals/how-to-pronounce-the-four-tones-in-mandarin-chinese
June 29th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Thank you David. I just started using this site today and I think it is one of the best. I have many mandarin learning resources, but yours is by far one of the best. Thanks for making learning free and fun.
Sincerely,
Diceaurora
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Ni hao, David. I am so happy to have found your site. I studied Chinese in college and lived in Taiwan for a year some thirty years ago. I am trying to regain my Chinese and find your site a welcome homecoming to the language. Thanks for putting this out there!
September 26th, 2009 at 8:53 am
David your videos are awesome… xie xie ni!
October 12th, 2009 at 6:20 am
Being a teacherf myself, I recognize human quality.
you, David. Your site is very understandable. If you ever need help with Spanish …
November 15th, 2009 at 3:56 am
thanks David.
you’re a big help! ;D
more power . . .
December 4th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I love your blog, the best I have seen yet. Thank you so much. I just adopted a 6 yr. old and have been trying to keep her chinese language at home. This will help tremendously!