Top 6 Compliments to Give to Make Friends in China
1
Characters
Pinyin
Translation
你很帅啊!
Nǐ hěn shuài a! (for males)
You’re so handsome! (for males)
你很漂亮啊!
Nǐ hěn piàoliang a! (for
females)
You’re so beautiful! (for females)
This is probably everyone’s favorite compliment in China.
If you want to return the same compliment, just add the word 也 / yě (also) to your
sentence.
So after someone says, “Nǐ hěn shuài a / Nǐ hěn piàoliang a,” you can say:
Nǐ yě hěn shuài a / Nǐ yě hěn piàoliang a!
This means, “You’re handsome/beautiful too!”
Characters
2
你的英文说得很
好!
Pinyin
Translation
Your English is so good!
Nǐ de yīngwén shuō de hěn
hǎo!
You speak English very well!
When Chinese people talk to you in English, give them this compliment to encourage
them to keep speaking English with you in the future.
Chinese people will give you this same compliment when you try to speak to them in
Mandarin. The word for Mandarin is 中文 / zhōngwén. So, they will tell you:
Nǐ de zhōngwén shuō de hěn hǎo!
This means, “You speak Chinese (Mandarin) very well!”
3
Characters
Pinyin
Translation
你很棒 / 牛!
Nǐ hěn bàng / niú!
You’re so
awesome/great/cool/amazing!
CIEE TEFL: Rives
You can use this compliment whenever someone does something that you consider to
be really awesome or cool and you want to praise them for it.
Niú literally means cow in Chinese, but it is also a very popular slang word that means
awesome/really cool/amazing/etc.
4
Characters
Pinyin
Translation
中国很美丽
Zhōngguó hěn měilì
China is so beautiful.
Chinese people always like when foreigners compliment their country.
The average Chinese person has a lot of pride in his/her nation and believes that China
is a very beautiful country, so if you reinforce that idea, you will get a lot of positive
feedback from people.
5
Characters
Pinyin
Translation
这个很好吃!
Zhèige hěn hǎo chī!
This is so good / delicious!
If someone wants to get to know you, he/she will invite you out to eat. When someone
takes you out to eat, make sure you compliment the food.
He/she will likely order at the restaurant for you, so when you are praising the food, you
are not only saying that it was delicious, you are also saying that he/she made you
happy with the dishes he/she chose for you.
6
Characters
Pinyin
Translation
你太客气了
Nǐ tài kèqì le
1: You are so
polite/kind/courteous.
2: You are so modest.
This phrase is used very often in China and has different meanings depending on the
context.
Whenever someone does something kind, considerate, or polite towards you, you can
acknowledge their courtesy by saying “Nǐ tài kèqì le.”
In Chinese culture, modesty is considered to be one of the highest virtues a person can
possess, if not the highest. Therefore, Chinese people will often downplay their personal
CIEE TEFL: Rives
qualities and achievements to appear modest, especially when they are first getting to
know someone or are in a formal social situation.
If you have known someone for a little while and want to become closer to him/her, you
can kind of call him/her out on his/her polite modest response by saying “Nǐ tài kèqì le.”
In this case, you’re really saying ‘You don’t have to be so polite when I compliment you
anymore. I already know you’re polite. Let’s just be real with each other.’
Top 6 Compliments Vocabulary Builder:
Character(s) Pronunciation
Translation
帅
shuài
handsome
漂亮
piàoliang
beautiful
中文
zhōngwén
Chinese
英文
yīngwén
English
棒
bàng
awesome/great/cool/amazing
牛
niú
Literally: cow
Slang: really cool/really great/really awesome/amazing
中国
zhōngguó
China
美丽
měilì
beautiful
客气
kèqì
1: polite/kind/courteous
2: modest
Top 6 Compliments Grammar Builders:
Subject
Is/Are so
Adjective
Translation
Nǐ
hěn
shuài
You are so handsome.
piàoliang
You are so beautiful.
bàng
You are so awesome/great/cool.
niú
You are so awesome/great/cool.
CIEE TEFL: Rives
Subject
Is/Are so
Adjective
Translation
Zhōngguó
hěn
měilì
China is so beautiful.
Zhèige
hěn
hǎo chī
This is so delicious.
Your
Language
Is very good
Translation
Nǐ de
yīngwén
shuō de hěn hǎo
Your English is very good.
zhōngwén
Your Chinese (Mandarin) is very good.
4 Fun Words/Phrases to Use to Make Friends in China
7
Characters
Pinyin
Translation
帅哥
Shuài gē
Handsome boy/guy/young man
美女
Měi nǚ
Beautiful girl/lady/young woman
You can use these terms to refer to young men and women when you don’t know their
name but want to get their attention or ask them for help with something.
These terms are only used when addressing young men and women, not adults or
elderly people.
You can also turn this way of addressing people into a compliment by adding 你是/nǐ
shì (you are) at the beginning of the sentence. So the compliment form of this term of
address is:
Nǐ shì shuài gē / Nǐ shì měi nǚ
This means, “You are a handsome boy! / You’re a beautiful girl!”
CIEE TEFL: Rives
Characters
8
Pinyin
你想和我一起出
去玩儿吗?
Translation
Do you want to hang out with me?
Nǐ xiǎng hé wǒ yìqǐ chū qù
wán(r) ma?
Do you want to do something with
me?
In Chinese to English dictionaries, the word 玩儿 /wán(r) is often translated as ‘play’ in
English. That’s because the verb wán(r) is also used to mean play, as in play a game.
In this sentence, the verb means ‘hang out’ or ‘go out.’
9
Characters
Pinyin
Translation
AA 吧
AA ba
Let’s split the check/bill.
7
This is the way to tell your friends that you want to share the check at a restaurant.
10
Characters
Pinyin
Translation
66666666
liù liù liù liù liù liù liù
Awesome/Great/Amazing/Fabulous
This is a relatively new text message/slang phrase that’s extremely popular with young
Chinese people. Basically, just text a bunch of 6’s or say the number 6 (liù) a bunch of
times after someone does something funny/cool/exciting/interesting/etc.
4 Fun Words/Phrases Vocabulary Builder:
Character(s)
Pronunciation
Translation
帅哥
shuài gē
handsome boy/guy/young man
美女
měi nǚ
Beautiful girl/lady/young woman
玩儿
wán(r)
play; hang out
AA 吧
AA ba
(Let’s) split/share the check/bill
666666
liù liù liù liù liù liù liù
Awesome/Great/Amazing/Fantastic/Fabulous
CIEE TEFL: Rives