How to Say ‘Long time no see.’ in Traditional Chinese
好久不見。
hǎo jiǔ bù jiàn
[how jee-oh boo jyen]
💬 Usage Tip: [好久不見] is a fixed greeting for meeting again after some time, and Chinese often drops the subject here. You can make it warmer by adding a name first, like [阿姨，好久不見].
Phrase Breakdown
好久
hǎo jiǔ
a long time; for a long time
Used to say a long time has passed since something happened or since you last saw someone.
好久沒見你了。
I haven’t seen you for a long time.
Words in this phrase
好
hǎo
[how]
good; quite; very
Here 好 is part of the fixed phrase 好久不見, meaning a long time has passed since meeting.
叔叔一進門就說：「好久不見。」
As soon as Uncle came in, he said, 'Long time no see.'
久
jiǔ
[jee-oh]
long time
久 refers to a long duration. In this greeting, it means it has been a long time since you last met.
我們一見面就先說好久不見。
As soon as we met, we first said, 'Long time no see.'
不見
bù jiàn
to not see; to be absent; to be gone
In this phrase, it is part of the set expression 好久不見, meaning “long time no see.”
好久不見！
Long time no see!
Words in this phrase
不
bù
[boo]
not
不 negates the verb 見 here, showing that you have not seen each other for a while.
他看到表哥時笑著說好久不見。
When he saw his older male cousin, he smiled and said, 'Long time no see.'
見
jiàn
[jyen]
see; meet
見 means to see or meet. In 好久不見, it refers to not having seen someone for a long time.
跟岳父岳母見面時，先說好久不見很自然。
When meeting your parents-in-law, saying 'Long time no see' first sounds very natural.
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