Thank you and hello in ChineseWith pronunciation, and the replies you'll hear back
Mandarin has almost no grammar to trip over: no verb endings, no plurals, no tenses. What it does have is tone, which is why a phrase you have practised can still land as nonsense. The phrases below are the short, high-context ones that survive an imperfect accent. Here are 18 phrases people actually use in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore, in the order worth learning them. The replies you will hear back are included too.
"Thank you" in Chinese
谢谢
SHYEH-shyeh
xièxie
Two syllables, said quickly, the second one light.
Thank you
谢谢
SHYEH-shyeh
xièxie
Hello
你好
nee HOW
nǐ hǎo
Excuse me / sorry
不好意思
boo HOW-ee-suh
bù hǎoyìsi
The everyday one. Use it for squeezing past and for getting attention.
Yes (that's right) / No
对 / 不是
dway / boo SHRR
duì / bú shì
There's no all-purpose yes. 对 means "correct" and 不是 means "it isn't".
Excuse me, may I ask...
请问
ching-WUN
qǐngwèn
Put it in front of any question you ask a stranger.
The respelling is an approximation. Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral one, and an English respelling cannot carry them. The same syllable said four ways gives you 妈 (mother), 麻 (hemp), 马 (horse) and 骂 (to scold), so tone is not decoration, it is part of the word. Short high-context phrases like 谢谢 and 多少钱 usually survive a flat delivery because context fills the gap, but anything longer may not, and your reliable backup is to show the characters on your phone. One more thing: the characters here are simplified, used in mainland China and Singapore, while Taiwan and Hong Kong use traditional forms (谢谢 is written 謝謝 there), and Hong Kong mostly speaks Cantonese, where thank you is 唔該 ("mm-GOY") for a service and 多謝 ("daw-JEH") for a gift.
Five phrases is genuinely enough for Chinese
You do not need to work through a phrasebook before you go. Almost everything a traveller says falls into these five shapes, and they are listed under "Start with these five" above.
- Thank you … The one you will use most. If you learn a single word, make it this one.
- Hello … Said the moment you walk into a shop. Whether you say it changes how you are treated.
- Excuse me … Some languages split calling someone over and apologising into different words. Check the list above.
- How much is it? … Needed for every purchase and every meal. If you miss the number, ask them to show it.
- I don't understand … Without this you end up nodding along and walking off in the wrong direction.
Getting these five automatic beats memorising twenty. Twenty phrases you have to search your memory for are worth nothing at the moment you need them.
There are two ways to say sorry, and tourists reach for the wrong one
对不起 (duìbuqǐ, "dway-boo-CHEE") is a real apology. It carries weight, closer to "I did you wrong", and using it because you brushed someone's elbow sounds strange and oddly dramatic. The everyday one is 不好意思 (bù hǎoyìsi, "boo HOW-ee-suh"), which covers squeezing past people, interrupting, flagging a waiter and mild embarrassment, and it is what you will hear locals say twenty times a day. If you only learn one, learn 不好意思. And when a conversation collapses completely, remember that the writing is shared even when the speech is not: typing or showing the characters gets you understood in Beijing, Taipei and Hong Kong alike, no matter what your tones did.
The hard part is not speaking, it is understanding the reply
Almost every phrasebook only covers what you say. What actually stops people is the second after they finish talking, when the other person answers. How many of you. For here or to go. Card or cash. Go quiet and the exchange dies. Nod along and you get the wrong thing.
The good news is that the replies are a small, predictable set. Choose "You hear" in the list above and you will see only the ones that actually come back at you in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. Reading them once before you go is most of the work.
If you still cannot catch it, ask them to write it down. Numbers and place names are far easier to read than to hear.
Say it clearly rather than say it perfectly
Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral one, and an English respelling cannot carry them. The same syllable said four ways gives you 妈 (mother), 麻 (hemp), 马 (horse) and 骂 (to scold), so tone is not decoration, it is part of the word. Short high-context phrases like 谢谢 and 多少钱 usually survive a flat delivery because context fills the gap, but anything longer may not, and your reliable backup is to show the characters on your phone. One more thing: the characters here are simplified, used in mainland China and Singapore, while Taiwan and Hong Kong use traditional forms (谢谢 is written 謝謝 there), and Hong Kong mostly speaks Cantonese, where thank you is 唔該 ("mm-GOY") for a service and 多謝 ("daw-JEH") for a gift.
The usual failure is not a wrong vowel, it is going quiet because you are unsure. Keep it short, say it at normal volume, and finish the phrase in one breath. Everyone can tell you are a visitor attempting Chinese, and if it does not land they will simply ask again. Copy the written form to your phone so you have something to show when speaking does not work.
Other languages
FAQ
Q.How do you say thank you in Chinese?
谢谢, pronounced roughly SHYEH-shyeh. Two syllables, said quickly, the second one light. If you learn one word before you travel, make it this one. It works at the till, when someone gives you directions, and when someone gives up a seat.
Q.Will the pronunciation guide alone get me understood?
Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral one, and an English respelling cannot carry them. The same syllable said four ways gives you 妈 (mother), 麻 (hemp), 马 (horse) and 骂 (to scold), so tone is not decoration, it is part of the word. Short high-context phrases like 谢谢 and 多少钱 usually survive a flat delivery because context fills the gap, but anything longer may not, and your reliable backup is to show the characters on your phone. One more thing: the characters here are simplified, used in mainland China and Singapore, while Taiwan and Hong Kong use traditional forms (谢谢 is written 謝謝 there), and Hong Kong mostly speaks Cantonese, where thank you is 唔該 ("mm-GOY") for a service and 多謝 ("daw-JEH") for a gift.
Q.How much should I learn before I go?
Five phrases. Thank you, hello, excuse me, how much is it, and I don't understand. That covers nearly every situation a traveller hits. Getting those five automatic matters far more than adding a sixth, because at the moment you need them there is no time to think.
Q.Why bother when I have a translation app?
For getting something done, the app wins. People still learn a few words because it changes how they are treated. In a 2025 Preply survey of 1,526 US adults, 47 percent of those who used the local language said locals treated them better, 80 percent said learning phrases before a trip is important, and 58 percent actually did it. A greeting is less about transferring information and more about signalling that you made an effort.
Q.I can ask the question, but I cannot understand the answer.
That is the most common way this goes wrong, and it is why this page includes the other side. Choose "You hear" in the list above to see only what gets said back to you in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. There are not many variations: how many of you, eat in or take away, card or cash. Reading them once removes most of the surprise.
Q.Does this work offline?
Yes. Everything runs in the browser, with no account and nothing sent to a server. Open it once before you fly and it will usually still be there on the plane or in a dead zone. You can copy any phrase and show the screen when speaking does not work.
Reading a phrase is not the same as saying it
You can recognise every phrase on this page and still freeze at the counter, because there is no time to think. Inko lets you say Chinese out loud to an AI for 60 seconds a day, and afterwards it shows you what you could have said instead. A week before you fly is enough to make a difference.