Useful Chinese

This page is divided into lessons. These start slowly and build your vocabulary in a structured way that should help you gain some useful phrases as well as enough understanding to form simple sentences of your own.

We have recorded the proper pronounciation by a native Mandarin speaker so as to help you practice the all-essential spoken language. Click on the 'speaker' image in the 'Hear this' column to access the recordings.

Please allow a few seconds for the file to load, especially the first time you use it. You must have Javascripts enabled for the sounds to work.

By request we prepared a page of Mandarin For Airline Employees. These useful Chinese phrases are specifically targetted at cabin crews with Chinese passengers.

More lessons will be added over time. Bookmark this page to make it easier to keep checking back.

Lesson 1 - the basics

English phrase	Pinyin	Literal meaning	Hear this
hello	ni hao	you good
how are you?	ni hao ma?	you good [question]
thank you	xie xie	thank thank
(I) don't want [it]	(wo) bu yao	not want
goodbye	zai jian
excuse me (sorry)	dui bu qi

Then two more, advanced, alternatives:

are you well?	ni chi fan le ma	you eat rice yet
long time no see	hao jiu bu jian	good time not see

Lesson 2- personal pronouns

English phrase	Pinyin	Literal meaning	Hear this
I	wo
you	ni
he/she	ta
we	wo men
you	ni men
they	ta men
my	wo de
your	ni de
his/hers	ta de
our	wo men de
your	ni men de
their	ta men de

There are only three personal pronouns to learn. These are made plural with the addition of men. The possesive for takes the ending de

Lesson 3 - Numbers one to ten

English phrase	Pinyin	Literal meaning	Hear this
one	yi
two	er
three	san
four	si
five	wu
six	liu
seven	qi
eight	ba
nine	jiu
ten	shi
one to ten

It is important that you are confident with these before proceeding to the next lesson.

Lesson 4 - Numbers continued

English phrase	Pinyin	Literal meaning	Hear this
one (the digit, such as when used in a telephone number)	yao
couple	liang
eleven	shi yi	ten [and] one
twelve	shi er	ten [and] two
twenty	er shi	two ten[s]
thirty	san shi	three ten[s]
sixty seven	liu shi qi	six ten[s and] seven
eighty four	ba shi si	eight ten[s and] four
one hundred	yi bai
one thousand	yi qian
two hundred	liang bai	[a] couple [of] hundred
three hundred	san bai
one hundred and fifty	yi bai wu	one hundred [and] five [of the next next decimal units, tens]
one thousand five hundred	yi qian wu	one thousand [and] five [of the next next decimal units, hundreds]
one hundred and five	yi bai ling wu	one hundred zero five [zero required for clarity]

In many ways this system is easier. There are rules and only the two exceptions covered above.

The biggest difference with our system is the assumption that a unit unsaid after a bigger unit is always the next unit down. Look at those last three examples and make sure you are clear how this works.

Lesson 5 - Asking Questions

English phrase	Pinyin	Literal meaning	Hear this
do you want	yao ma	want [question]
do you want	yao bu yao	want not want
(Yes I) want (it)	(wo) yao	(I) want
No I don't want it	(wo) bu yao	(I) not want

As you can see, there are two ways of making an expression a question: add ma at the end; or have the positive and negative forms of the verb together. There are no words for 'yes' and 'no'; you form a response with either the positive or negative verb form.

Lesson 1 - Boarding

English phrase	Pinyin	Hear this
Good morning	zao shang hao
Good afternoon	xia wu hao
Good evening	wan shang hao
What is your seat number	ni de zuo wei shi ji hao
This way please	zhe bian qing
Ladies and gentlemen	nu shi men, xian sheng men
Welcome to this flight to ...
The flight time will be ...
We have to count the number of passengers before take off
Please remain seated

Lesson 2- Safety Issues

English phrase	Pinyin	Hear this
Please fasten your seat belt	qing xi hao an quan dai
Please turn off your computer	qing guan bi dian niao
Please turn off your mobile phone	qing guan bi shou ji
Please put your seat upright	qing tiao hao ni de wei zi
Please put your table away	qing shou hao ni de xiao zuo zi
Please put your bag under the seat	qing ba ni de bao fang dao wei zi xia mian
Please put your bag in the locker	qing ba ni de bao fang dao xiang zi li
We are going through an area of turbulence

Lesson 3 - Food and Drink

English phrase	Pinyin	Hear this
Would you like a drink	ni xian he dian shen mo
Meat or chicken	zhu rou hai shi ji rou
Chicken or fish	ji rou hai shi yu
Tea or coffee	cha hai shi ka fei

Lesson 4- In-flight Information

English phrase	Pinyin	Hear this
There are toilets at the front	ce suo zai qian mian
There are toilets at the back	ce suo zai hou mian
We will be landing soon	wo men hen kuai jiu jiang luo le
We will be landing in 30 minutes*	wo men san shi fen zhong hou jiang luo
We will be landing in one* hour	wo men yi xiao shi hou jiang luo
The movie program will start shortly	dian ying jie mu ma shang kai shi
We have just landed at ...
The local time is ...	dan di shi jian wei
and the temperature is...
Thank you for flying with us

^* - For other numbers please see Lessons 3 and 4.