Greeting in Chinese Two

In the last blog  Greeting in Chinese One, we talked about some basic greetings when you just start learning to speak Chinese. Let's take a look at this video clip to see whether you already have good understanding of it.

In this video, XiaoMing meets some people and greets them. Notice that he greets the cashier in the store, the conductor on the bus, a lady in the park with 你(nǐ) 好(hǎo), and they all reply him with 你(nǐ) 好(hǎo).  When he greets the old gentleman, he says: 爷(yé)爷(ye)， 早(zǎo)上(shang)好(hǎo)！(grandpa, good morning). Maybe you may wonder: is he XiaoMing’s grandpa?  Maybe not. In China, sometimes people may address other people in the same way they address their family members to show a warm friendly intention, to feel closer to each other. You may see the younger ones address the older ones as 爷(yé)爷(ye) (grandpa), 奶(nǎi)奶(nai)( grandma), 叔(shū)叔(shu)(uncle), 阿(ā)姨(yí)(aunt), etc. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they are from the same family.

Let’s jump back to the video. The old gentleman replies XiaoMing with: 小(xiǎo) 明(míng)，你(nǐ)好(hǎo)！Then XiaoMing meets his classmates, Linlin and Xiaoxin. He says :” 琳(lín)琳(lín)， 小(xiǎo)欣(xīn)， 你(nǐ)们(men)好(hǎo)！” They both reply XiaoMing with: “小(xiǎo)明(míng)， 你(nǐ)好(hǎo)！” At last, XiaoMing tries to scare a little boy by saying 你(nǐ)好(hǎo) very loudly and close to his ear. He is naughty today.  : )

Other articles that you may be interested:
Greetings in Chinese One
Greetings in Chinese Two  (this one)
Greetings in Chinese Three 
Greetings in Chinese Four 
Greetings in Chinese Five 
Self-introduction
Summary of Pronoun