Conversational Chinese--Greeting

Conversation:

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：         ！