Asking cute stranger for their number: Finding something in common

💬 特别 (tèbié) goes before a verb or adjective to make it stronger. It's warmer and more conversational than 非常: try 特别好吃 "really delicious".

💬 Put 的 (de) after a person to show ownership, like an English 's. 他的书 can mean one book or several, because Chinese nouns don't show plural.

💬 Putting 最 (zuì) "most" before 喜欢 gives you "like most", which is how Chinese says "favorite". Just add the thing afterward: 我最喜欢咖啡 "coffee is my favorite".

💬 Chinese marks book titles with the special brackets 《 》 rather than italics. You'll see them around film and song titles too.

💬 遍 (biàn) counts how many times you go through something from start to finish, like reading a book or watching a film. 次 (cì) is the word for counting ordinary occurrences.

💬 When 了 (le) comes both after the verb and at the end of the sentence, it means the action has happened and is still ongoing up to now. The suggestion here is that you may read it again: compare 我学了两年了 "I've been studying for two years (so far)".

💬 The pattern 太…了 means "so…!" and is used to exclaim. Swap in another adjective: 太好了 "great!".

🇨🇳 In China you ask for someone's WeChat instead of their phone number, and it's the normal, low-key way to keep in touch after chatting with someone.

💬 加个 (jiā ge) drops the 一 from 一个. That makes the request sound casual and low-key, like "add a quick WeChat".

🇨🇳 In China people almost never ask for a phone number. They ask to add each other on WeChat instead, so this is the natural, low-pressure way to keep in touch with someone you've just met.

💬 Saying a verb twice, as in 聊聊 (liáoliao), makes it sound light and casual, like "have a little chat". The repeated syllable is said softly with no tone: try 看看 "take a look".

🇨🇳 Adding someone on WeChat means one person shows their QR code and the other scans it, so offering to scan saves them the effort.

🇨🇳 Adding someone on WeChat usually means one person shows their QR code and the other scans it. Expect to hold up your phone rather than spell out an ID.

💬 好 after a verb shows the action is successfully done. Compare 做好了 "it's done" and 准备好了 "ready".

💬 In 不客气 (bú kèqi), 不 changes to a rising tone (bú) because the next syllable has a falling tone.

💬 回头 (huítóu) literally means "turn the head", but in casual speech it means "later" or "some other time". You'll also hear 回头见 "see you later".