Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Chinese Greetings 3-I'm doing fine, and you?

When someone says ni(3) hao(3) 你好 to you, you might want to carry on the conversation. Let’s make an answer starting with I.
A: How are you? ni(3) hao(3) 你好?
B: I am doing fine, and you? Wo(3) hen(3) hao(3) 我很好, ni(3) ne 你呢?

Hen(3) 很 means quite or very. It modifies the following adjective.

Ne 呢 is a postposition used at the end of the interrogative sentence. This grammatical point sounds a little bit difficult but just remember, it is used to make a question sentence.

As you may have noticed, wo(3) hen(3) hao(3) 我很好 is three 3rd tones in a row. Since hen(3) hao(3) 很好 are related to each other (adverb and adjective), read it as half 3rd + 2nd + 3rd tones. When 3rd tone is followed by a neutral tone as in ni(3) ne 你呢, ni(3) 你 becomes half 3rd tone.

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