Chinese new year greetings: Essential & Popular Greetings

💬 [好] is often used in greetings after a time word or occasion: [新年好], [大家好]. In these cases it means something like "good wishes to you," not just "good" by itself.

💬 [过年] literally means "pass/spend the New Year," and Chinese often uses [过] with holidays or time periods this way. You can reuse the pattern in phrases like [过节] for "celebrate a festival."

🇨🇳 [过年] usually points to the Spring Festival period, not January 1. In everyday Chinese, when people say [过年], they normally mean Lunar New Year.

🇨🇳 [过年好！] is specifically for the Spring Festival season, so it feels more traditional and festive than a general New Year greeting. You'll hear it with family, neighbors, and during holiday visits.

💬 [欢迎] is often followed by the person and then what they're welcome to do: [欢迎你来我们家], [欢迎你来北京]. That makes it a handy pattern for inviting people into places or events.

💬 [我们家] literally says "our family," but in speech it often means "our home/our place." The same happens with [你家], which can mean "your home," not only "your family."