Dialogue: At the Teacher's Door
A short scene from arrival to goodbye: greeting a teacher, being invited in, apologising and taking leave.
The dialogue
A student knocks on a teacher's office door. Read each line, tap to hear it, and notice how short polite Chinese can be: no "may I" or "would you," just 请 (qǐng, please) in front of the verb.
Quick check
1. How does the teacher invite the student in?
2. What does the student say first?
Title + 好, and 明天见
Greet someone by their title plus 好: 老师好 (lǎoshī hǎo) (hello, teacher), 大家好 (dàjiā hǎo) (hello, everyone). It's warmer and more respectful than a plain 你好.
见 (jiàn) means "see." Put a time in front of it and you have a goodbye: 明天见 (míngtiān jiàn) (see you tomorrow).
Quick check
1. 老师好 means:
Try it yourself
Write a sentence or two using what this lesson covered. Not graded -- just for you, saved so you can come back to it.
Pick with a tap, a number key or Space. A Chinese keyboard on your device works in the box below too.
Final review
0/14 answered across this lesson
1. Your teacher says 请坐. What do you do?
2. You bump into someone. What do you say?
3. Match each phrase to its meaning.
4. Complete (characters or pinyin).
5. Complete (characters or pinyin).
6. Translate into English.
7. Say it in Chinese (characters or pinyin).
8. Say it in Chinese (characters or pinyin).
9. Say it in Chinese (characters or pinyin).
10. Put the words in order.
Hint: “Please sit down.”
11. Greet an older stranger politely.
Say your answer out loud and record it, then compare it with the model.
Tip: Third-tone hǎo after a rising nín.