# Hello, how may I help you?



## Honeylhanz

hi, can anyone please tell me how to say "hello, how may i help you?" in mandarin. please spell it out in english and how to pronounce it. 
thanks in advance.


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## JJchang

nin2 hao3, qing3 wen4 wo3 neng2 ban1 nin2 ma1?

sounds like:
ning hao, ching wen (think of when without that h) wow neng (think "energy" that "ner") ba-n (think "ba", add the nasel sound "n" at the end) ning maa?

Be careful, asking in Chinese may get replies in Chinese, so this may not be such a good idea...


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## Jana337

JJchang said:
			
		

> *nin2* hao3, qing3 wen4 wo3 neng2 ban1 nin2 ma1?
> 
> sounds like:
> ning hao, ching wen (think of when without that h) wow neng (think "energy" that "ner") ba-n (think "ba", add the nasel sound "n" at the end) ning maa?
> 
> Be careful, asking in Chinese may get replies in Chinese, so this may not be such a good idea...


James, a plain "ni" doesn't work? I supposed it does - what's the difference between them?

Thanks, 

Jana

P.S. Yesterday I edited a name of a thread --> Chinese: something. Shall I better write Mandarin unless another variant is clearly specified?


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## Honeylhanz

JJchang said:
			
		

> nin2 hao3, qing3 wen4 wo3 neng2 ban1 nin2 ma1?
> 
> sounds like:
> ning hao, ching wen (think of when without that h) wow neng (think "energy" that "ner") ba-n (think "ba", add the nasel sound "n" at the end) ning maa?
> 
> Be careful, asking in Chinese may get replies in Chinese, so this may not be such a good idea...


thank you so much. i really want to learn how to speak and how to read mandarin.


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## Amphitrite2004

I thought it should be

nin hao(or ni hao), qing wen wo neng bang nin(or ni) ma?

bang, not ban. bang means help.   I thought that "ang" pronounces like "en" in French?


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## Amphitrite2004

Jana337 said:
			
		

> James, a plain "ni" doesn't work? I supposed it does - what's the difference between them?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jana
> 
> P.S. Yesterday I edited a name of a thread --> Chinese: something. Shall I better write Mandarin unless another variant is clearly specified?


 

Ni hao is OK.   Nin hao is polite form,    in Chinese,  Nin and Ni are both meanings of "you"..... like "Vous" and "tu" in French,   but Nin can't mean plurality.


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## Honeylhanz

hello amphitrite and JJchang,
ni hao or nin hao means hello, right? 
so what do you mean by ni hao ma or nin hao ma? what is the difference?
i often heard that from a friend of mine who know how to spoke mandarin. but i dont know whats the meaning of it. can you help me figure it out?
thanks in advance


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## Amphitrite2004

haha ^_^ 

yeah, ni hao and nin hao all mean Hello.

Ni hao ma is a interrogative sentence, means "are you ok?" or "are you fine?" maybe is "ça va?" in French...

ma in Chinese is a interrogative word.


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## JJchang

perhaps it's better to use the comparison of "comment vas-tu?" to "comment allez-vous" with the situation here.

To explain in English,
nin is like you in the old sense, and ni is like thou. 

(btw, jana, i'm not james, j stands for jerry)


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## Honeylhanz

thank you so much to both of you. now i know the difference.
muchisimas gracias a todos.


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## Jana337

JJchang said:
			
		

> perhaps it's better to use the comparison of "comment vas-tu?" to "comment allez-vous" with the situation here.
> 
> To explain in English,
> nin is like you in the old sense, and ni is like thou.
> 
> (btw, jana, i'm not james, j stands for jerry)


Oh, excuse me. 
And my question from post 3?

Jana


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## JJchang

Jana, about your question on Mandarin or Chinese, I believe it's better to use the term Chinese when referring to something written. Mandarin is just one way to read and pronounce Chinese. Of course people who is native in Cantonese or Mingnan (Taiwanese) may write differently, but that's dialect, and I don't believe writing in dialect is recommendable especially in the formal situation.


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