One of the first things you need to learn in Chinese is how to introduce yourself and let people know a little bit about you. In this post I’ll cover all this and more.
Table of Contents
Hello / 你好 / nǐ hǎo
Hello
你 好
nǐ hǎo
You can use
- Greeting someone who is older such as an elder or teacher
- Greeting someone who is of a senior rank, for example meeting the company CEO
- Meeting someone in a formal situation, for example greeting a guest from another company
- Meeting someone you don’t know where it is apparent they are older or more senior to yourself
Be careful when using
Children might use
- Hello elder brother 姐姐好 (jiějiě hǎo)
- Hello elder sister 哥哥好 (gēgē hǎo)
- Hello auntie 阿姨好 (āyí hǎo)
- Hello uncle 叔叔好 (shūshu hǎo)
- Hello grandfather 爷爷好 (yéyé hǎo)
- Hello grandmother 奶奶好 (nǎinai hǎo)
My name is / 我叫 / wǒ jiào
My name is Mike
wǒ jiào Mike
As Chinese may have some difficulty pronouncing your English name, I suggest you look up it’s Chinese equivalent on my posts here:
Be sure to also check out my post on how to address people in Chinese.
Here is a break down of
wǒ | jiào |
I | called |
What is your name? / 你叫什么名字? / nǐ jiào shénme míngzì?
Hi, my name is Mike. What is your name?
你 nǐ 好 hǎo , , 我 wǒ 叫 jiào M M i i k k e e 。 . 你 nǐ 叫 jiào 什 shén 么 me 名 míng 字 zi ? ?
nǐ hǎo,wǒ jiào Mike. nǐ jiào shénme míngzì
Here is word-by-word break down of
nǐ | jiào | shénme | míngzì |
you | called | what | name |
As you can see from the break down, this is equivalent to English, albeit with a slight change in word order.
How do I address you? / 怎么称呼你? / zěnme chēnghu nǐ?
zěnme | chēnghu | nǐ |
how | (to) address | you |
Here are some sample answer could expect to asking someone 怎么称呼你 (zěnme chēnghu nǐ):
English | Chinese | Pinyin Pronunciation |
Call me Mike (is good). |
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jiào wǒ Mike hǎole. |
Most people call me Mike |
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dàjiā jiào wǒ Mike |
Please call me Lao Wang (old Wang) is fine (good). |
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qǐng jiào wǒ lǎo wáng jiù hǎole. |
You can call me nurse Zhang. |
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nǐ kěyǐ jiào wǒ zhāng hùshì |
Call me Mr Wang. |
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jiào wǒ wáng xiānshēng |
What nationality are you (which country are you from)? / 你是哪国人?/ nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?
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nǐ | shì | nǎ | guó | rén |
you | are | which | country | person |
As you can see, broken down
To answer
I am <nationality> / 我是<nationality>人 / wǒ shì <nationality> rén
English | Chinese | Pinyin Pronunciation |
I’m Chinese |
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wǒ shì zhōngguó rén |
I’m American |
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wǒ shì měiguó rén |
I’m Canadian |
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wǒ shì jiānádà rén |
I am Australian |
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wǒ shì àozhōu rén |
I am Indian |
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wǒ shì yìn duó rén |
I’m British |
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wǒ shì yīngguó rén |
In Chinese, to turn a country into a nationality, you simply add 人 (rén) after the Chinese name of the country, thus:
- China
中 Zhōng 国 guó (zhōngguó rén)”] becomes Chinese中 Zhōng 国 guó 人 rén (zhōngguó rén) - America
美 Měi 国 guó (měiguó) becomes American美 Měi 国 guó 人 rén (měiguó rén) - Canada
加 Jiā 拿 ná 大 dà (jiānádà) becomes Canadian加 Jiā 拿 ná 大 dà 人 rén ( jiānádà rén) - Australia
澳 Aò 洲 zhōu (àozhōu) becomes Australian澳 Aò 洲 zhōu 人 rén (àozhōu) - Indian
印 Yìn 度 dù (yìndù) becomes Indian印 Yìn 度 dù 人 rén (yìndù rén) - Britain
英 Yīng 国 guó (yīngguó) becomes British英 Yīng 国 guó 人 rén yīngguó rén )
If your country isn’t in the short list above, check out my post on Country Names in Chinese.
Note that someone saying they are Chinese
Where are you from? / 你从哪里来? / nǐ cóng nǎlǐ lái?
- the country you are from, but necessarily you nationality
- the state or province you’re from
- the city your from
Here is a break down of 你从哪里来 (nǐ cóng nǎlǐ lái):
Here are some examples:
What do you do? / 你做什么工作? / nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?
As with English, I’m a ___ / 我是 / wǒ shì我是 (wǒ shì) is an easy way to say “I am”, which can be used to answer the above question |
wǒ shì gōngchéngshī. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I’m an accountant |
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wǒ shì kuàijì. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I’m a doctor |
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Wǒ shì yī míng yīshēng | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I’m a programmer |
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wǒ shì chéngxù yuán. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I’m a sales person |
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wǒ shì yīgè xiāoshòu yuán. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I’m a teacher |
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wǒ shì yī míng lǎoshī. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I’m a student |
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wǒ shì yī gè xuéshēng |
Note that in some cases you place a classifier, otherwise known as a measure word, in front of the profession, so rather than say “I am student”
Check out my post on how to address people in Chinese for more details on professions and how to address people. If you want to know more about classifiers, please take a look at my post Chinese Classifiers: What are they and how to use them as well as my complete list of Mandarin Chinese classifiers and measure words.
A sample dialogue for introducing yourself in Chinese
To put this together I thought it would be useful to show you sample dialogue of introductions in Chinese:
nǐ hǎo.
Hello.
nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào Mike. Zěnme chēnghu nǐ?
Hi, I’m (called) Mike. How should I address you?
wǒ jiào lǎo wáng. Nǐ shì nǎ guórén?
I’m old Wang. Which country are you from?
wǒ shì měiguó rén. nǐ cóng nǎlǐ lái?
I’m American. Where are you from?
wǒ shì běijīng rén. Nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?
I’m from Beijing. What do you do (job)?
wǒ shì yīgè xuéshēng, nǐ ne?
I’m a student, (how about) you?
wǒ shì gōngchéngshī.
I’m an engineer.
Wrapping it up
I hope this has been useful, be sure to also check out my post on the Top 25 Chinese phrases for tourists tourists to help build you Chinese vocabulary.