Top 50 phrases to get by Taiwan: Essential communication

💬 [你好] literally uses [你] + [好]: "you" + "good," a common Chinese way to greet someone. The same pattern works with titles too, like [老師好] for "hello, teacher."

🇹🇼 In Taiwan, [你好] is understood everywhere, but with strangers it can sound a bit textbook or direct. In everyday situations, people often just start with [不好意思] to get attention, or go straight to the question politely.

💬 [不] is pronounced (bú) before a falling-tone syllable, so [不客氣] is said (bú kè qì), not (bù kè qì). You'll hear the same in [不是] (bú shì).

🇹🇼 [對不起] is a real apology, so it can sound stronger than the English "sorry." For small everyday things like getting someone's attention or brushing past them, people in Taiwan often use [不好意思] instead.

🇹🇼 As a direct answer for "yes," bare [是] is understandable but not always the most natural choice in Taiwan. People often answer with the verb from the question instead, or say [對] for "that's right."

💬 [不是] is literally "[is] not," so it's most natural for correcting or denying something: "No, it isn't." For many yes/no questions in Chinese, people often answer by repeating the verb negatively the same way.

🇹🇼 [請] often means more than just "please" in Taiwan: you'll also see it in signs and service situations with a sense like "please go ahead" or "please do this." In real conversation, politeness often comes more from tone than from adding [請] everywhere.

💬 [明白] is the "understand" part here, and [不] goes right before it to make it negative: [我不明白]. You can reuse that pattern with other verbs too, like [我不知道] for "I don't know."