How to Say Hello in Chinese: What Taiwanese Say

Hello in Chinese is 你好 (nǐ hǎo, ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ). It is understood everywhere, and in Taiwan nobody will think you have made a mistake by saying it. Literally it means “you good”.

What people in Taiwan actually say depends on who they are greeting. Friends say 嗨 (hāi) or 哈囉 (hāluó), both borrowed from English. Students and colleagues greet a teacher or an elder with a title plus 好, such as 老師好 (lǎoshī hǎo). Mornings begin with 早安 (zǎo’ān) or just 早 (zǎo). And “how are you” is less often 你好嗎 and more often 最近好嗎 (zuìjìn hǎo ma), “how have you been lately”.

This page sorts those choices by situation, with readings and Zhuyin checked against Taiwan’s Ministry of Education dictionary (國語辭典).

Greetings at a glance

Situation	Say	Pinyin	Zhuyin
any time, any person	你好	nǐ hǎo	ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ
formal, writing, customers	您好	nín hǎo	ㄋㄧㄣˊ ㄏㄠˇ
friends, casual	嗨	hāi	ㄏㄞ
friends, casual, phone	哈囉	hāluó	ㄏㄚ ㄌㄨㄛˊ
morning	早安 / 早	zǎo’ān / zǎo	ㄗㄠˇ ㄢ / ㄗㄠˇ
greeting a teacher	老師好	lǎoshī hǎo	ㄌㄠˇ ㄕ ㄏㄠˇ
after a long gap	好久不見	hǎojiǔ bújiàn	ㄏㄠˇ ㄐㄧㄡˇ ㄅㄨˊ ㄐㄧㄢˋ
first meeting	很高興認識你	hěn gāoxìng rènshi nǐ	ㄏㄣˇ ㄍㄠ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄖㄣˋ ˙ㄕ ㄋㄧˇ

你好: the standard hello

你好 is built from 你 (you) and 好 (good). The dictionary has no entry for 你好 itself, since it is simply the two words together. The same pattern gives 你們好 (hello, everyone), 大家好 (hello, all) and 老師好.

Tone change. Two third tones in a row do not stay as written. In speech the first becomes rising, so 你好 sounds like ní hǎo. This is the best-known example of third-tone sandhi, and it is the first thing most learners meet. The rule is covered in Mandarin tone sandhi in Taiwan. Pinyin and Zhuyin on this page show 一 and 不 as spoken; third-tone sandhi is not marked. 不 is bù in the dictionary and becomes bú before a fourth tone, as in 好久不見.

Where it fits in Taiwan. 你好 is a fully natural greeting for strangers, shop staff, new colleagues and anyone you want to treat with a little care. Between close friends it can feel slightly formal, as if you were being careful with them, and people tend to switch to 嗨, 哈囉, a name or a joke. Mainland Mandarin textbooks present 你好 as the everyday hello, and in Taiwan it keeps that role while a wider set of casual alternatives sit beside it. The comparison is laid out in Taiwanese vs Mainland Mandarin.

Replying. Say it back: 你好. There is no separate answer.

您好: the formal form

您好 (nín hǎo) uses the polite 您. The dictionary describes 您 as the respectful form of “you”, mostly toward elders. It is standard for service staff greeting customers, for the first line of an email or message to someone you do not know, and for older people you want to honour. In Taiwan, many people use it less in everyday talk than you might expect from textbooks. How and when to use 您 is covered in 你 vs 您.

Casual hellos: 嗨 and 哈囉

嗨 (hāi) is the Chinese spelling of English “hi”, and the dictionary lists it as a friendly greeting (表示親切的招呼語). 哈囉 (hāluó) is “hello”, and the dictionary calls it a borrowed word that is “now mostly used as a greeting”. Both are heard from friends, and both fit text messages and phone calls.

• 嗨，好久不見。 (Hi, long time no see.)
• 哈囉，你在哪裡？ (Hello, where are you?)

On the phone, 喂 (wèi) is the common way to answer, and the dictionary describes it as a word used to call attention or greet. The dictionary reading is wèi, but on the phone it is commonly said with a rising tone (wéi). 哈囉 is also frequent on calls with friends.

Time-of-day greetings

早安 (zǎo’ān) means “good morning”, and the dictionary lists the sense of a greeting on meeting in the morning. 早 (zǎo) is the shorter form, with no particle needed. Both are used with colleagues, classmates and family, and a morning 早安 message is an everyday ritual in LINE groups, often as a 長輩圖 (zhǎngbèi tú), the greeting image older relatives like to send. In the afternoon, 午安 (wǔ’ān) turns up in messages and from service staff.

晚安 (wǎn’ān) is listed as a greeting used in the evening and, mostly, when parting for the night. In practice you say it as “good night”. Use it when someone is going to bed or leaving late.

For the afternoon, a plain 你好 or a nod does the job.

Greeting people by title

The most Taiwanese way to greet someone you respect is a title plus 好. It tells the person that you know their place relative to yours, so it often replaces the word “hello” entirely.

Person	Say	Note
teacher	老師好	students greet teachers this way in school
a friend’s mother	阿姨好 (āyí hǎo)
a friend’s father	叔叔好 (shúshu hǎo)
grandparents	奶奶好 (nǎinai hǎo) / 爺爺好 (yéye hǎo)	on the paternal side
boss, senior colleague	王經理好 (Wáng jīnglǐ hǎo)	surname + title

阿姨 (āyí) and 叔叔 (shúshu) are kinship words, and the dictionary also lists the general senses: 阿姨 for a woman of about your mother’s age, and 叔叔 for a man of your father’s generation but younger. In Taiwan both are used for adults with no family tie, and 阿姨 is the polite way to greet a friend’s mother. Two cautions: 阿姨 can make a woman in her thirties or forties feel old, and 叔叔 is mostly what children and young people say. Adults often use 先生 instead. For the full set of terms, see Chinese family kinship terms. For titles at work, see how to address your boss in Chinese.

When you walk into a convenience store or restaurant, staff will often greet you with 歡迎光臨 (huānyíng guānglín, “welcome”). The dictionary defines 光臨 as a polite term for a guest’s visit. You do not have to answer it with the same phrase. A nod or a quiet 你好 is enough, and many people say nothing.

Meeting someone for the first time

• 很高興認識你 (hěn gāoxìng rènshi nǐ): “Nice to meet you”, literally “very happy to know you”. The verb 認識 is explained in 知道, 認識, 懂, 了解.
• 幸會 (xìnghuì): a polished “pleased to meet you”. The dictionary lists it as “to be honoured to meet”.
• 久仰 (jiǔyǎng): “I’ve long admired you”, a formal phrase for meeting someone you have heard of.

After the greeting, you introduce yourself. The next step is how to introduce yourself in Chinese.

How are you in Chinese

The textbook phrase is 你好嗎？ (nǐ hǎo ma, ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ ˙ㄇㄚ). It is grammatical and polite, and it fits when you have not seen someone for a while and sincerely want to know.

For everyday check-ins, Taiwan speech uses forms that carry a time frame:

Ask	Pinyin	Meaning
最近好嗎？	zuìjìn hǎo ma	How have you been lately?
最近還好嗎？	zuìjìn hái hǎo ma	Are you doing okay lately?
最近怎麼樣？	zuìjìn zěnmeyàng	How have things been?
你還好嗎？	nǐ hái hǎo ma	Are you alright? (asked when someone seems off)

How to answer.

Reply	Pinyin	Meaning
很好	hěn hǎo	very well
還好	hái hǎo	okay, not bad
不錯	bú cuò	pretty good
有點忙	yǒudiǎn máng	a bit busy
你呢？	nǐ ne	and you?

還好 (hái hǎo) is a very common reply. The dictionary glosses it as “passable” and also “fortunately”, and said flatly it can sound lukewarm, like “so-so”. 忙 (máng), “busy”, is a very common answer as well. In writing, always return the question: 我很好，謝謝。你呢？ (I’m well, thanks. And you?)

Older people, neighbours and shopkeepers may greet you with 你吃飽了嗎？ (nǐ chībǎo le ma, “have you eaten?”) or the shorter 吃飽沒 (chībǎo méi), which mirrors the Taiwanese Hokkien greeting 食飽未 (tsia̍h-pá—buē). It is a greeting, not an invitation. Answer 吃飽了 or 還沒, plus 謝謝. It is uncommon between young urban peers, so treat it as something to recognise and answer, and start with 你好 or 嗨 yourself.

Goodbyes and everything after

This page deals with hellos. Goodbyes in Taiwan have their own habits, including 掰掰 (bāibāi) and 慢走 (màn zǒu), and they are covered in the Taiwanese vs Mainland Mandarin comparison, so this page does not repeat them. The phrases are also gathered in basic Mandarin phrases for Taiwan.

A note on other languages in Taiwan

Taiwan is multilingual. With grandparents and in some regions, a greeting may come in Taiwanese Hokkien or Hakka, and many families move between languages in a single conversation. As a Mandarin learner you do not need to reply in them, and a polite Mandarin greeting is welcome everywhere. If you want a feel for what you may hear, see Taiwanese Hokkien for Mandarin learners.

Common mistakes

Saying 你好 to a group of friends every time. It works, but 嗨 or a name makes it sound less like a textbook. Match the room.

Replying to 你好嗎 with 你好. 你好 is a greeting and 你好嗎 is a question. Answer it: 我很好，謝謝。

Using 您 on everyone. It is correct for elders and customers, and can sound distant with a peer.

Forgetting the title. With a teacher, 你好 is polite, and 老師好 is natural.

What to practise first

Start with three: 你好, 嗨 and 早安. Then add the title greetings that match the people in your life, such as 老師好, 阿姨好, 叔叔好. Then 最近好嗎, with 還好 and 不錯 as replies. That covers nearly every greeting you will use in a first month in Taiwan.

Hearing the tones in context helps more than reading them. Zhong’s lessons use native Taiwanese audio, and each course follows Pinyin or Zhuyin, so you can hear 你好 and 哈囉 the way people say them. If you also want to see how the sounds are written, see the Zhuyin chart and the pinyin chart.

Related reading

• Taiwanese vs Mainland Mandarin
• How to Introduce Yourself in Chinese
• 你 vs 您: Polite Address in Chinese
• How to Say Thank You in Chinese