Basic Greetings

The lessons that primarily use the following vocabulary are Lesson 1 – Hello, how are you? and Lesson 2 – Meeting someone new.

生词 (New Words)
你好nǐ hǎoHello
你好吗?nǐ hǎo ma ?How are you
很好hěn hǎoVery well
不太好bù tài hǎoNot so well
早上好zǎo shàng hǎoGood morning
下午好xià wǔ hǎoGood afternoon
晚安wǎn ānGood night
再见zài jiànGoodbye
注意 (Note)

Even though the pinyin for 你好 is written as “nǐ hǎo”, 你好 is actually pronounced “ní hǎo.” This is due to a tone change that occurs when there are two consecutive third tones. The same is true for “很好“. In the phrase “不太好”, the character “不” also undergoes a tone change to “bú” because of another tone change rule. If these tone change rules seem unfamiliar, see The Tone Change Challenge.