Greetings in Chinese: nǐ hǎo, nín hǎo, zǎoshang hǎo and zàijiàn

Nǐ hǎo and nín hǎo: hello in Chinese

Nǐ hǎo is two words, nǐ, you, and hǎo, good, and works as hello at any hour and to almost anyone. Wiktionary adds a use that surprises learners: it is often a polite way of getting someone's attention, before a question or a request.

Nín is the respectful you, and nín hǎo is the polite greeting for an older person, a customer or a superior. Wiktionary's usage note gives its limit: nín hǎo is only used to one person. A group is greeted with nǐmen hǎo, using the plural you, with dàjiā hǎo, hello everyone, which Wiktionary describes as a crowd announcement or stage greeting, or with gèwèi hǎo, hello all of you.

Both greetings contain two third-tone syllables in a row, and Mandarin changes the first of them to a rising tone. Written nǐ hǎo, the greeting is said closer to ní hǎo, as the IPA in the table shows: the 214 contour of nǐ turns into 35. Pinyin keeps the original tone marks, so the change has to be learned, not read.

Good morning and good night in Chinese

Morning greetings are the most common time-of-day forms. Zǎoshang hǎo, morning good, and zǎo'ān, morning peace, both mean good morning, and a single zǎo, early, also serves as good morning. Wiktionary lists all three.

Evening is where mainland China and Taiwan differ. Wiktionary's usage note explains that on the mainland wǎnshang hǎo is used as a greeting and wǎn'ān when parting or ending a conversation. In Taiwan wǎn'ān is also a farewell and seldom a greeting, and wǎnshang hǎo is not generally accepted in Taiwanese Mandarin.

Wǎn'ān is good night as a parting word. Used on the mainland when someone leaves or a conversation ends late in the day, it is never the word for walking into a room.

Zàijiàn, bàibai and wèi on the phone

Zàijiàn is the standard goodbye: zài, again, and jiàn, to see. Wiktionary marks it as polite and gives the literal sense to see again or to meet again. Bàibai, which Wiktionary explains as a phono-semantic matching of English bye-bye, is the informal farewell among friends and on the phone. In Taiwan and parts of South-east Asia the same characters also mean to worship a deity or a temple festival, a separate word that Wiktionary lists first.

Wèi opens a telephone call. Wiktionary gives two senses, hey! to call attention and hello? or yes? when answering the phone; face to face the second is dated.

Thank you, you're welcome and welcome in Chinese

Greetings come with a few phrases that follow them everywhere. Xièxie, thank you, is the same syllable said twice, the second time in the neutral tone, and the usual answers are bù kèqi, literally don't be polite, or bùyòngxiè, no need to thank. Wiktionary notes that the second is sometimes cut to bùxiè in informal speech.

Huānyíng is to welcome. Shop staff say huānyíng guānglín to a customer who walks in, a set phrase Wiktionary records with exactly that use; a guest at home hears huānyíng alone. In Wu Chinese, the group that includes Shanghainese, zàihuì is a polite goodbye beside zàijiàn, according to Wiktionary; its literal sense is the same, to meet again.

Nǐ hǎo ma and other habits to avoid

Nǐ hǎo ma? looks like the obvious how are you?, but Wiktionary's usage note calls it a literal translation of the English question, not commonly used among native speakers and heard mainly when someone actually asks about another person's health. Hǎojiǔ bùjiàn, long time no see, is the natural phrase for meeting someone again after a while.

Bodily greetings differ too. Chinese Wikipedia's article on greetings describes the traditional gesture of the Chinese cultural sphere, gǒngshǒu: the hands clasped in front of the chest, one palm over the other fist. Wiktionary records the word as literary.