Hello
When you meet someone.
Helloin Cantonese.
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Canto SchoolPronunciation
你好
nei5 hou2
hello
Recorded Cantonese
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CANTONESE PHRASE · GREETINGS
Hello in Cantonese: 你好 (nei5 hou2)
A little Cantonese for your next conversation.
The Cantonese phrase
How do you say hello?
你好 (nei5 hou2) means “hello.” It is a simple greeting for someone you have just met. Learn it as one greeting, rather than translating its two characters as a separate sentence. For the morning, use the saved 早晨 greeting; when leaving, choose a goodbye.
Saved generated-voice recording from the Canto School app library.
New to Cantonese? Follow the beginner roadmap
Read the phrase
- Meaning
- hello
- Traditional Chinese
- 你好
- Jyutping
- nei5 hou2
Hello, good morning or goodbye?
Choose the greeting for the moment. Hear each complete phrase below.
Good morning
When you greet someone in the morning.
Bye
A casual goodbye when you leave.
How to pronounce it
There are two sound beats in nei5 hou2. Keep them together as the greeting 你好 rather than translating the two characters separately.
Play the whole greeting once, then say its two beats along with the saved recording.
When to use it
你好 is a straightforward greeting, especially for a first meeting or a polite opening. Close friends may use other greetings; it is not restricted to one time of day.
Try it when: Greeting someone you have just met.
Examples
你好，我叫美玲
nei5 hou2 ngo5 giu3 mei5 ling4
Hello, my name is Mei Ling.
你好，好高興識到你
nei5 hou2 hou2 gou1 hing3 sik1 dou2 nei5
Hello, nice to meet you.