How to introduce yourself in Chinese

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.

Hello / 你好 / nǐ hǎo

hǎo (nǐ hǎo) is the most straightforward way to introduce yourself in Chinese, and is the equivalent of saying “hello” in English. You will also see this written as hǎoma (nǐ hǎo ma), not the difference here is that the ma (ma) character has been added to the end. The difference here is that hǎo (nǐ hǎo) means “hello” and hǎoma (nǐ hǎo ma) is the equivalent of “how are you?”

hǎo
nǐ hǎo

Hello

You can use hǎo (nǐ hǎo) in almost any situation, however you should be aware of a slight variation which is nínhǎo (nín hǎo). Here nín (nín) means “you” but is the polite equivalent (nǐ). Examples of when to use hǎo (nǐ hǎo) include

  • 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 nínhǎo (nín hǎo) as it is formal and definitely makes the situation less casual.

Children might use nínhǎo (nín hǎo) more than adults, however for children it is more common to greet people by their title, so for example:

  • 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

jiào (wǒ jiào) The most simple way to tell someone your name. The way to use this is to say something like:

eemm>>jiàoMMiikkee
wǒ jiào Mike

My name is 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 jiào (wǒ jiào)

jiào
jiào
I called

What is your name? / 你叫什么名字? / nǐ jiào shénme míngzì?

jiàoshénmemíngzi (nǐ jiào shénme míngzì) is a reasonably casual way of asking someone their name and literally means “What are you called?” You can use jiàoshénmemíngzi (nǐ jiào shénme míngzì) in combination with saying hello and telling the other person your name, for example:so for example:

hǎo,jiàoMMiikkee. jiàoshénmemíngzi?
nǐ hǎo,wǒ jiào Mike. nǐ jiào shénme míngzì

Hi, my name is Mike. What is your name?

Here is word-by-word break down of jiàoshénmemíngzi (nǐ jiào shénme míngzì):

jiào shénme míngzi
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?

zěnmechēnghu (zěnme chēnghu nǐ) is best used when you are unsure of how to address someone. Broken down this literally means “how (do I) address you?”:

zěnme chēnghu
zěnme chēnghu
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). jiàoMMiikkeehǎole. jiào wǒ Mike hǎole.
Most people call me Mike jiājiàoMMiikkee. dàjiā jiào wǒ Mike
Please call me Lao Wang (old Wang) is fine (good). qǐngjiàolǎowángjiùhǎole. qǐng jiào wǒ lǎo wáng jiù hǎole.
You can call me nurse Zhang. jiàozhāngshi. nǐ kěyǐ jiào wǒ zhāng hùshì
Call me Mr Wang. jiàowángXiānsheng. jiào wǒ wáng xiānshēng

What nationality are you (which country are you from)? / 你是哪国人?/ nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?

shìguórén (nǐ shì nǎ guórén) is a very common question people will ask of foreigners and thus is a question you will get good at answering. Equally if you are in China, it is unlikely you will need to ask someone where they are from, as the answer is probably obvious. here is shìguórén (nǐ shì nǎ guórén) broken down word-for-word:

shì guó rén
shì guó rén
you are which country person

As you can see, broken down shìguórén (nǐ shì nǎ guórén) is a straight forward translation.

To answer shìguórén (nǐ shì nǎ guórén) , you should say

I am <nationality> / 我是<nationality>人 / wǒ shì <nationality> rén

shì<country>人 ( wǒ shì <country> rén ) is the most appropriate way to tell which country you’re from. To use this phrase you simply insert the Chinese name of the country you are from, for example:

English Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation
I’m Chinese shìZhōngguórén wǒ shì zhōngguó rén
I’m American shìMěiguórén wǒ shì měiguó rén
I’m Canadian shìJiārén wǒ shì jiānádà rén
I am Australian shìzhōurén wǒ shì àozhōu rén
I am Indian shìYìnrén wǒ shì yìn duó rén
I’m British shìYīngguórén 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 Zhōngguó (zhōngguó rén)”] becomes Chinese Zhōngguórén (zhōngguó rén)
  • America Měiguó (měiguó) becomes American Měiguórén (měiguó rén)
  • Canada Jiā (jiānádà) becomes Canadian Jiārén ( jiānádà rén)
  • Australia zhōu (àozhōu) becomes Australian zhōurén (àozhōu)
  • Indian Yìn (yìndù) becomes Indian Yìnrén (yìndù rén)
  • Britain Yīngguó (yīngguó) becomes British Yīngguórén 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 Měiguórén (měiguó rén) refers to their nationality, not ethnicity. Someone who is ethnically Chinese but is not a citizen of China is called a Huárén (huárén).

Where are you from? / 你从哪里来? / nǐ cóng nǎlǐ lái?

cónglái (nǐ cóng nǎlǐ lái) is a common question you will hear or may use to ask where someone is from. This is different to shìguórén (nǐ shì nǎ guórén), which was asking someone what their nationality. cónglái (nǐ cóng nǎlǐ lái) could be answered with:

  • 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):

cóng...láide (wǒ cóng ___ lái de) is the best way to respond in telling someone where you are from and means “I’m from ____”. Here is a break down of the sentence:
cóng <place> lái de
cóng <place> lái de
I (am) from <place> come <possession>

Here are some examples:

English Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation
I am from America cóngMěiguóláide. wǒ cóng měiguó lái de.
I’m from Taipei cóng Táiběi de. wǒ cóng Táiběi lái de.
I’m from the North cóngběifāngláide. wǒ cóng běifāng lái de.

What do you do? / 你做什么工作?  / nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?

zuòshénmegōngzuò (nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò) is the way you ask someone what they do. Here is a direct translation:

zuò shénme gōngzuò
zuò shénme gōngzuò
you do what job

As with English, zuòshénmegōngzuò (nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò), is a common part of small talk when getting to know someone.

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 shìgōngchéngshī.

wǒ shì gōngchéngshī.
I’m an accountant shìkuài. wǒ shì kuàijì.
I’m a doctor shìmíngshēng Wǒ shì yī míng yīshēng
I’m a programmer shìchéngyuán. wǒ shì chéngxù yuán.
I’m a sales person shìxiāoshòuyuán. wǒ shì yīgè xiāoshòu yuán.
I’m a teacher shìmínglǎoshī. wǒ shì yī míng lǎoshī.
I’m a student shìxuésheng. 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” shìxuésheng ( wǒ shì xuéshēng) it is more correct to say “I am a student” shìxuésheng ( wǒ shì yī gè xuéshēng), where “一个” means “one”.

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:


hǎo.
nǐ hǎo.
Hello.


hǎo,jiàoMMiikkee.zěnmechēnghu?
nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào Mike. Zěnme chēnghu nǐ?
Hi, I’m (called) Mike. How should I address you?


jiàolǎowáng.shìguórén?
wǒ jiào lǎo wáng. Nǐ shì nǎ guórén?
I’m old Wang. Which country are you from?


shìMěiguórén.cónglái?
wǒ shì měiguó rén. nǐ cóng nǎlǐ lái?
I’m American. Where are you from?


shìBěijīngrén.zuòshénmegōngzuò?
wǒ shì běijīng rén. Nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?
I’m from Beijing. What do you do (job)?


shìxuésheng,ne?
wǒ shì yīgè xuéshēng, nǐ ne?
I’m a student, (how about) you?


shìgōngchéngshī.
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.