Staying at home? Learn Chinese – 2

Today we will be learning how to say good wishes and say thanks, because the Lao New Year is about 2 weeks away. (Hopefully, the covid-19 situation will improve by then! )

Lesson

ສະບາຍດີປີໃໝ່ can be said in Chinese in 2 ways.

新年好 Listen here:

Or 新年快乐 Listen here:

ຂໍໃຫ້ທ່ານຈົ່ງໄດ້ຮັບຜົນສຳເລັດ

祝您成功 Listen here:

The second word, “您”, is a respectful way of saying in English “you”. If you recall from the last lesson, English “you” is “你” (ni3). The word gains its respectful form from the addition of the word “心” (xin1) – which means “heart” – at the bottom:

你 + 心 –> 您

ຂໍອວຍພອນໃຫ້ທ່ານຈົ່ງມີໂຊກດີ

祝您好运 Listen here:

In Laos, people normally only say “ໂຊກດີ” to each other, as the shorter form of the sentence. Likewise in English, you can only say “Good luck” instead of “Wish you [have] good luck”. However, in Chinese, it will be very strange to only say “好运” (hao3 yun4)! You should say the full sentence “祝您好运” (zhu4 nin2 hao3 yun4) (or “祝你好运” (zhu4 ni3 hao3 yun4) if you do not need to use the respectful for of the English “you”).

ຂໍອວຍພອນໃຫ້ທ່ານຈົ່ງມີສຸຂະພາບແຂງແຮງ

祝您健康 Listen here:

Or you can also say 祝您身体健康 Listen here:

ຂອບໃຈນຳທ່ານທີ່ໄດ້ຊວຍເຫລືອ

感谢您的帮助 Listen here:

Or, you can say 谢谢您的帮助 Listen here:

Now that we have learnt these, here is a question for you to test your learning: How do you say “Thank you” in Chinese to a close friend?