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How to Say ‘Off to work?’ in Simplified Chinese

你去上班啊?

nǐ qù shàng bān a

[nee qù shàngbān ah]

🇨🇳 In China: Neighbors often greet you by stating what you're obviously doing. A quick 是啊 "yep" and a smile is the whole expected reply.

Phrase Breakdown

你去

nǐ qù

you are going

你 (you) + 去 (go). Say it nǐ qù, ending on a falling tone.

Example

你去哪儿?

Where are you going?

Words in this phrase

你

nǐ

[nee]

you

A common singular word for 'you' when addressing another person.

Example

你好,护士请看一下我的信息。

Hello, nurse, please take a look at my information.

去

qù

[qù]

to go

Indicates movement or travel from one place to another.

Example

你想去逛逛街吗?

Do you want to go shopping?

上班啊?

shàng bān a

to work, huh?

上班 means go to work. 啊 makes this a friendly, casual check-in question. Say it shàng bān a.

Example

你几点上班?

What time do you go to work?

Words in this phrase

上班

shàng bān

[shàngbān]

to go to work

To go to one's job; neighbors often ask this as a greeting in the morning.

Example

他今天不上班。

He doesn't work today.

啊

a

[ah]

particle showing enthusiasm/softening tone (ah)

A sentence-final particle that can make the tone friendlier, more enthusiastic, or more natural in speech: 好啊!行啊!

Example

好啊,今晚一起吃饺子!

Sure—let’s eat dumplings together tonight!

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