Conversational Chinese--Greeting
Conversation:
林月:你好,杨西。
杨西:你好,林月。
林月:你好吗?
杨西:我很好。
林月:再见!
杨西:再见!
Notes:
1. 你好 means "Hello!/Hi!"
It’s an everyday greeting and is used at any time, on an occasion and by a person of any social status. The reply should also be “你好”.
2. Putting the word “吗" at the end of a sentence makes that sentence a question. Example: “你好” means “Hello” or, literally, “You good (or well). ” Adding the word “吗” at the end of the phrase makes it a question: 你好吗?means “How are you? ” or “Are you good (or well)?”
3. 你好吗 means "How are you?"
It’s an everyday greeting and is usually used between acquaintances. A polite expression such as “我很好” can be used as a reply.
4. Neutral tone
In common Speech, some syllables are pronounced both light and short. Such a tone called the natural tone, which lacks a tone-graph representation in writing. Example: “你好吗" is pronounced as “nǐ hǎo mɑ”.
5. Change of tones
When two 3rd tones come together, the first tone change into 2nd, but it’s tone-graph remains. Example: “你好 nǐ hǎo” is actually pronounced as “ní hǎo”. “很好 hěn hǎo” is actually pronounced as “hén hǎo”.
Substitution: turns lined words into the words following the sentences.
1. 你好! 你们,大家
2. 你好吗? 你们,他,她,他(她)们,大家
3. 我很好。 他,她,他(她)们
New Words:
你 nǐ you 你们 nǐ mén you (plural)
好 hǎo good,well
我 wǒ I, me
很 hěn very
再见 zài jiàn goodbye
他 tā he, him 她 tā she, her 他(她)们 tā men they, them
大家 dà jiā everyone
Proper names:
杨西 yánɡ xī
林月 lín yuè
Exercises:
(1) A:你好!
B: !
A:你好吗?
B: 。
(2) A、B:你好!
C: !