Top 50 phrases to get by China: Essential communication

🇨🇳 [你好] is standard and polite, but in everyday China people often greet with context instead, like asking where you're going or whether you've eaten. Use [你好] freely with strangers, staff, or first meetings.

💬 [不] is pronounced (bú) before a falling-tone syllable, so [不客气] is said (bú kèqi). You'll hear the same in [不是] (bú shì).

🇨🇳 [对不起] is a real apology, not the light everyday "sorry" you might use for brushing past someone. For small interruptions or getting attention, locals often use [不好意思] instead.

💬 [是] means "to be" for saying one thing equals another, as in [我是老师]. Don't use it before adjectives: say [我很忙], not [我是忙].

💬 [不是] is literally "is not," so it's natural for correcting or disagreeing: [不是，我听不懂]. For a simple no to a request, Chinese often uses the verb instead, like [不会] or [没有].

💬 [请] often comes before a verb to soften it: [请说慢一点] or [请给我这个]. By itself it can also mean "go ahead" or "after you," depending on the situation.

💬 Chinese usually puts negation before the verb, so [不] comes before [明白]: [我不明白]. You can reuse that pattern easily: [我不懂] or [我不知道].