Greetings 100

100 phrases

Meeting someone10 你好 is the greeting every course opens with, and the one native speakers use least. It is correct but a little flat - fine for a stranger, oddly formal for someone you see daily. What people actually say is a greeting shaped to the group: 大家好 to a room, 老师好 to a teacher, 您好 to anyone you want to show respect. Learn the shape rather than the single word and you will sound placed rather than rehearsed.
Time of day10 Chinese greets the clock more explicitly than English does. 中午好 and 下午好 mark parts of the day that English lumps into "afternoon", and 早 on its own - one syllable, no 好 - is what colleagues actually say to each other in a corridor at nine in the morning. The evening pair is worth learning together: 早点休息 is what you say to someone who should stop working, and 做个好梦 is warmer, for someone you are close to.
How have you been10 The answers here matter more than the questions. Chinese has a whole register of pleasant non-answers - 还不错, 老样子, 马马虎虎, 还行 - and choosing between them is how you say something without saying anything. 老样子 means nothing has changed and you are fine with that; 马马虎虎 is a shrug. A learner who answers every 你最近怎么样 with 很好 sounds cheerful and slightly robotic.
After a long time10 好久不见 is famous enough to have entered English as "long time no see", and it really is the opening line. What follows it is the part worth rehearsing, because the second thing you say sets the tone: 你变了 can be a compliment or a worry depending on your face, while 你一点也没变 is safely warm. 我们有多久没见了 buys you time and invites the other person to do the arithmetic.
Saying goodbye10 Chinese goodbyes come in pairs: the leaver and the host say different things. If you are going, 我先走了 announces it and 慢走 is what you hear back - literally "walk slowly", meaning take care. 别送了 is the polite refusal of an escort to the door, and refusing it once before giving in is part of the ritual. 拜拜 is borrowed from English and is fine among friends.
Thanking10 The reply is where learners stumble. 不用谢 is the safe default, but 应该的 - "it was what I ought to do" - is warmer and much more common between people who know each other. Note that 辛苦了 is not thanks exactly: it acknowledges effort, and it flows downward or sideways, from a manager to a team or between colleagues, never upward to someone senior.
Apologising10 对不起 is heavier than English "sorry" and reserved for real fault. The everyday word is 不好意思, which covers embarrassment, a small imposition and squeezing past someone on a bus - the situations where an English speaker would say sorry a dozen times a day. Use 对不起 for those and you will sound as though you have done something serious.
Replies and backchannel10 These are the sounds of listening. A Chinese conversation expects the listener to keep making noise, and silence reads as disagreement or inattention. 原来如此 is the one to reach for when something has just clicked, 是吗 keeps the other person going, and 随便你 is worth handling with care: it means "as you like" but lands, depending on tone, anywhere between generous and cold.
Getting attention10 How you flag someone down says a lot. 请问 is the neutral opener for a stranger and is almost always the right choice. 服务员 is how you call a waiter - shouting it across a restaurant is normal and not rude. 小姐 is the trap: once a standard address for a young woman, it now carries a suggestive edge in much of the mainland, and 美女 or nothing at all is safer.
Concern and encouragement10 Chinese comfort tends to be practical rather than emotional: 别着急, 慢慢来, 会好起来的 all point at the situation improving rather than at how you feel. The one to know is 多喝热水 - "drink more hot water", the reflexive Chinese answer to almost any complaint. It is sincere, it is a running joke online for being useless, and understanding both readings at once is a small milestone.

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