What Chinese phrases do you like best or use the most often?

幹嗎? (gan4 ma -- What are you doing?) and its cousin 幹啥? (gan4 sha2) are definitely two of my favorite Mandarin phrases.

Some of my other favs are:

別耍我 (bie2 shua3 wo3) Don't mess (or play) with me.

拜托 (bai4 tuo1) Come on! Oh Please!

老兄 (lao3 xiong1) dude (approximately)

老+adj. (lao3 + adj.) very + adj. e.g., 老好吃, 老漂亮

東摸摸西摸摸 (dong1 mo1 mo1 xi1 mo1 mo1) Killing time, doing nothing important.

I also have my Cantonese favorites, though some of them can't be listed on this forum:

你有冇搞錯? (Neih yauh mouh gaau cho?) Haven't you messed up?

做乜鬼? (jouh mat gwai) What the devil (or hell) are you doing?

黐線 (chi sin) Crazy

靚女 (leng leui) Pretty girl

蠱惑仔 or 古惑仔 (gu waahk jai) Punk kid

鬼佬 (gwai lou) Foreigner

ah google says that´s pen... means the secondlast

...so where am I wrong (we´ll see about that then 哈哈哈 *badandmean laughter*)

No way I'm going to explain it and spoil it --

penultiwhat?

You're wrong in the penultimate comment.

mmmmmmmmmmuahahahaha//www...

@ arneneithel

ni shi yi ge hao peng you ( 你是一个 好朋友 )

you are an good friend

ni hao peng you ( 你好 朋友 )

hello friend (of course ni means you and hao means good but it´s nihao and in this context it only means hello)

man I sound smart ;-)

but anyone who know´s better feel free to say where I´m wrong ( 哈哈哈 *mad laughter*)

with henrymilks's Ni hao peng you, could this also mean "you are a good friend", as well as "hello friend"? depending on tone of voice?

yea be strikt ;-)

坐下！

别说话！

你为什么打他？

站起来！

I'm a teacher and often the just won't listen to the english!

If you are a tourist in Shanghai and are on the Bund or Nanjing Donglu, then the most important phrase is:

什么都不要!

沒問題

沒事

I currently have a very naughty favorite

拍马屁 (pāi mǎ pì) = to be a toady, a kiss-ass, literally "to pat the horse on the butt"

算了吧 !

henrymilk 的话是这样

你好，朋友！给我一瓶冰镇的啤酒！

henrymilk 的话应该是这样：

你好，朋友，请给我一瓶冰镇的啤酒！

@excuter

I don't see it either. (Sorry for the delay.)

For those that lives in shanghai the best and most important sentence is:

Ni Hao PENG YOU! GEI WO YI GA Hen PINDA PI JIU !!!

HELLO FRIEND, GIVE ME A VERY COLD BEER !!!

Woohooo !!!Success when arriving in china for the first time !!!

EHH? - 再说一遍, zai shuo yi bian, say that again.

這個並不是我最喜歡的可是這語塊挺有趣

狗屁不通

別罵我剛說的狗屁不通

说我的手，我的头不听！

I think you might be right, Tianfeng!

I'm partial to 虽然...但是...

Mitigating circumstances seem to be a big part of my intelectual life.

if anyone here sees (is it written correct?) my skypename tell me please (I don´t see it here and it´s my own what the heck... er...干吗? )

I mean around here it does´nt show up :-)

@brendan

just wanna know do you see my skype name / can you try to contact me ´cause it does´nt show up for me ...

Amber,

I can see the appeal with 你干吗 - very versatile. Thanks for that.

@ amber

I guess Bazza refers to a movie called... let my guess again... Terminator :-)

speaking of Terminator (writing of course...) what´s "talk to my hand ´cause my head is not listning" in chinese?

Take it easy, but once you're in the 复杂 fù zá fuzziness of hi-level Chinese (that is, way up above my own, of course) the pinyin won't do, because context (语境 yú jìng) will not be enough to make yourself understood...

shì shì shì shì ! 试释是事! Try to explain it ! ;-)

Barry - 哈哈... Either you meant 真的吗 or you're very fond of "horses from the town" 镇的马. You didn't want to say zhèn de mǎ... zhēn de ma? 真好玩儿

Thanks franch, think I'll stick to the pinyin from now on...

One of my favorites is 不知道。 Thanks everyone who responded. I really enjoyed learning from this discussion!

I've lately been greeting my friend with "wo3 dao4 le". She laughs.

"我能听懂你说的话.... 都气死我了."

Yantaiguy the answer to 为什么is 不为什么。There is obviously a reason but people just don't want to tell you.

everyone here in Yantai uses "你干什么?" which I translate as "What are you up to?" I use that a lot. Also "怎么了?" which I translate as "How come?" or something similar. I'm beginning to understand enough Chinese now to not need to walk around like a 笨蛋 saying "为什么?" constantly. Sometime when I use "为什么?" I don't get a proper answer, I just get "因为." (roughly translated as "Just because." which doesn't help at all.

Hi franch,

弄 (nòng) and 搞 (gǎo) both have the same meaning, basically another way to say "do." The difference is just in when you use them. Mastering which to use when really comes from listening to how native speakers use them. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that 搞 (gǎo) often has a bit more of a negative connotation (but not necessarily).

In the case of your example sentence, it would be more natural to use 搞 (gǎo), i.e.:

你在搞什么名堂 (Nǐ zài gǎo shénme míngtang.)

Hope that helps!

Bazza,

Interesting phrases... you sound like you must have an exciting life ;)

Not really common and probably not all that useful but two phrases that currently often running through my mind are:

现在是派对时间。

(It's party time.)

我需要你的衣服、靴子还有摩托车。

(I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.)

:D

Hi! Amber,

"你在搞什么"跟"你在弄什么"有什么差别呢?

What difference is there between 弄 nòng

and 搞 gǎo ? Which one sounds more like

"What are you up to?" - Is 你在弄什么名堂

a sentence you're likely to hear? Thanks.

I always say 你在干什么呢 instead of 你干吗。

hi brendan and hqian,

Sorry guys, I miswrote: the ma should be second tone:

你干吗! (nǐ gànmá!?)

This phrase is so universal, and depending on your tone of voice can take on a multitude of meanings.

(Angry tone of voice:)

你干吗! (nǐ gànmá!?) can mean anything from "what the heck?" to "what the heck are you doing" "what's your problem"... you get the idea.

If you put it into a sentence, like:

我干吗要帮你。(Wǒ gànmá yào bāng nǐ?) Why should I help you?

你干吗打我？！ (Nǐ gànmá dǎ wǒ?!) What did you hit me for?!

The 干吗 means "why" or "why should I/you."

It can also be used in a more pleasant tone of voice, amongst friends, just to ask what they're up to, or what something is all about:

(pleasant tone of voice:)

你在干吗？ (Nǐ zài gànmá?) What are you doing?

你干吗？ (Nǐ gànmá?) What's up, etc.

that sort of thing. There really are a million and one uses of this phrase, I love it. You will hear it all the time. And so versatile!

does anyone know what´s "why...me?" in Chinese?

or is it simply 干吗。。。我 ? hey if so I took the best TVphrase and from ambers comment and made up a new Top phrase (for me (and anyone who likes it of course))

oops...

谢谢你 I guess Jenny Zhu was correct with her choise of words as always :-)

Excuter, 再见 zài jiàn! ! ! 建 jiàn means "establish"

wow seems like I did hit the right thematik :-)

that´s a hughe respond 谢谢你们 keep on posting I guess there are still phrases of use hiding somewhere ;-)

I almost forgot my new phrase learned somedays ago

不是我 - bu shi wo (guess where I learned it ;-) )

@ Jenny Zhu

if I would have been asked for my guess on what is Jenny Zhu´s most used phrase I would have placed my money on 在建 . That leads me to suggest a lesson about the top ten (mostly) every day used phrases e.g. in the Lunchbreake at work or so.

Barry - 哈哈... Either you meant 真的吗 or you're very fond of "horses from the town" 镇的马. You didn't want to say zhèn de mǎ... zhēn de ma? 真好玩儿

Tianfeng - those are great glimpses of Chinese as it is really spoken and I can relate them to numerous Irish-English equivalents. I love the tiger's cave one - must learn that one off :-)

I use 镇的马 and 没有all the time!Unfortunately I only use them on myself so get no response!

Brendon as soon as I say jenny's I though she has to add 没错 as well. I don't notice my own but my girlfriend's are always adding 而已 to the end of sentences and 有没有搞错啊! Right now I keep using the 成语 - 不入虎穴，焉得虎子 even in places it doesn't actually fit to get people to take some risks and have some fun.

Actually, goulniky, 你干吗! (nǐ gàn ma!?) with ma sounding neutral means "Are you going to do it?!"

But you're right when pronouncing ma as the second tone, it means "What are you doing?"

说得不好 (shuo de bu hao)

太棒了 (tai bang le!)

不会吧 (bu hui ba!)

再来一杯就! (zai lai yi bei jiu)

I use this phrase all the time now thanks to Jenny Zhu.

It's the most useful phrase I've learned on Chinesepod, and is not Chinese at all. It's from the Riding the Elevator lesson:

"Do not usurp (my) power."

-jonathan

There's a line from one of the Pimsleur dialogues that I used to love. I practiced and honed it for weeks:

我不明白你说什么。

Wŏ bù míngbai nĭ shuō shénme.

It's a fancy way to say: "Huh?" and gives you a few moments to gather your wits. Unfortunately, it convinces the person you're speaking to that you really do speak Mandarin and you're just being coy. Thereafter, they spew forth a torrent of Chinese that'd make Da Shan run for cover.

Eh, sounded good in theory.

:-)

Thanks goulniky. Reminds me of the first time I went to Germany. The only two words I had were Mahlzeit (lit. mealtime, used in certain parts as a lunchtime Hello) and genau (exactly). Which lead to my first all-German conversation:

Other: Hello!

Me: Exactly!

It didn't go much beyond that, funnily enough.

See, now if someone asks me that, I reply: 什么?

;)

干吗 (also 干嘛) gànmá = What are you doing? What are you up to?

Amber - what does 你干吗! (nǐ gàn ma!?) mean?

Jenny, based on your podcasts I expected 没错 to be right up there!? ;-)

谢谢。

好的。

其实 (qíshí) actually

其实,我...

没关系 (méi guānxi) it doesn't matter

I use:

你好 (ni hao) - [hello]

谢谢 (xiexie) - [thank you]

在建 (zai jian) - [good bye]

我不懂 (wo bu dong) - [I don't understand]

马 (ma) - [question particle]

青 (qing) - [please]

对不起 (dui bu qi ) - [sorry]

i think there is no more satisfying nor useful phrase than the ubiquitous:

你干吗! (nǐ gàn ma!?)

马马虎虎

没办法

哪里, 哪里

谢谢您

不好意思 - I'm used to constantly use it, it's a way of life. No, I'm not Canadian... 不好意思

什么 (shénme)

Nice multi-purpose word with a lot of utility. And it's the first hanzi I was able to write, so it gets a sentimental boost.