Learn Chinese
Chinese (Mandarin) is the most-spoken language on earth, written with characters and built on tones that change a word's meaning entirely.
Below you'll find 10,191 native-checked Chinese phrases organized by theme, the essential phrases to learn first, and a self-guided path from beginner to advanced. Browsing is free — the real progress comes when you say these out loud with a person.
Start here
Essential Chinese phrases for beginners →
The handful of phrases worth learning first, with pronunciation and usage.
Self-guided
The Chinese mastery path →
A sequenced A1→C2 path: the Core 3000 words, graded readers, conversations and games.
Common Chinese phrases people ask about
- How do you say “How are you, Mike?”? 你好嗎，邁克？
- How do you say “Where are the showers?”? 浴室在哪里？
- How do you say “What fruit is red?”? 甚麼水果是紅色的？
- How do you say “What did she say?”? 她說了什麼?
- How do you say “Where does it hurt?”? 哪裡疼?
- How do you say “Good evening, how are you?”? 晚上好，你好吗？
- How do you say “Can you drive a car?”? 您会开车吗？
- How do you say “I need help.”? 我需要找人帮忙。
Browse Chinese phrases by theme
A path from beginner to fluent
Phrases are the start. flountain's self-guided path sequences your whole journey across the CEFR levels:
A1–A2 · Beginner
Survival Chinese: greetings, courtesy, numbers, ordering food and asking directions — the phrases on this page.
B1–B2 · Intermediate
Real conversations: opinions, plans, stories and small talk, plus the Core 3000 vocabulary and graded readers.
C1–C2 · Advanced
Nuance and fluency: idiom, register and culture — built through reading, conversation and tutor feedback.
Ready to actually speak Chinese?
Browsing phrases is the start. Practice out loud with native-speaker peers for free, or book a 1-1 video lesson with a vetted Chinese tutor.