How to Say ‘How are you?’ in Simplified Chinese
你好吗？
nǐ hǎo ma
[nee how mah]
💬 Usage Tip: Adding 吗 to the end of any statement turns it into a yes/no question, with no change in word order: 你忙 "you're busy" becomes 你忙吗？ "are you busy?"
🇨🇳 In China: Textbooks love it, but locals rarely use 你好吗？ as a casual greeting. It sounds a bit stiff and works best with someone you haven't seen in a while.
Phrase Breakdown
你
nǐ
[nee]
you
A familiar singular pronoun meaning 'you.'
你好，我是你的新同事。
Hello, I am your new coworker.
好
hǎo
[how]
good; well
Describes something as good, or an action as done well.
这个图形颜色配得好，“好”也说明结果不错。
The colors of this figure are matched well; “good” here also shows the result is nice.
吗
ma
[mah]
question particle (yes/no)
Placed at the end of a sentence to turn it into a yes/no question.
新年你回家了吗？
Did you go home for the New Year?
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