Greetings

 

We have already learned about "ni hao" - Hello.Following are the other common greeting that can be used in Mandarin. 

Good Morning

zǎo  ān 早 安

zǎo shàng hǎo - 早上好

Zǎo means “morning.”

The Chinese character zǎo 早 is a composite of two characters - 日 (meaning sun) and 十. The character 十 is an old form of jiǎ 甲, which means “first” or “armor.” A literal interpretation of the character zǎo 早, therefore, is “first sun.”

The second character - ān - 安 means "peace", so the literal translation of zǎo ān - 早安 is "morning peace".

zǎo shàng - 早上 together means  "early morning"

hǎo - 好 means "good".  So the literal translation of zǎo shàng hǎo - 早上好 is "early morning good". 

Good Night

wǎn ān 晚安

Wǎn means "late" and together  wǎn ān means " late peace" which is used for "good night"

Good Afternoon and Good evening

                                  Zhong wu hao    中午好

                                  Xia wu hao     下午 好

Appropriate Timings

These greetings should be said at the appropriate time of the day. 

 

Other greetings: 

Good Bye

Zài jiàn  再见

" Zài " means " again" and "jiàn" means "to see" . The literal meaning for " zài jiàn" means "see you again" but it can be used as good bye .

See you tomorrow

                                   Ming tian jian 田明见

Mingtian means " tomorrow"

Thanks

                                    XieXie  謝謝, 

You are welcome

                                      bù kè qi  不客氣

"bù kè qi "literally means "Don't be polite" in Mandarin. The Chinese have the tendency to negate a polite action/comment from another, rather than acknowledge it