你好

nǐ hǎo

hello; hi; a common polite greeting used when meeting or addressing someone

你好，请问去火车站怎么走？

Hello, could you tell me how to get to the train station?

Etymology

The phrase combines the second-person pronoun 你 (you) and the adjective 好 (good), and emerged as a standard everyday greeting in modern Mandarin Chinese in the early 20th century.

Memory Aid

Break it into two simple words: 你 means "you", 好 means "good", so literally "you good" which naturally becomes a greeting asking after the other person.

Collocations

你好吗说你好你好再见

Synonyms

您好嗨

Related Words

再见问候打招呼