9 Chinese Conversation Scripts to Prepare You for Real-world Dialogues

Textbook Chinese dialogues are the worst. It doesn’t matter how many times you read through the conversations—once you go to a restaurant in China, you’ll likely be thrown for a loop within a sentence or two.

That’s because we can’t predict exactly what someone will say in any given situation.

Think of the Chinese dialogues in this post as guides—these nine scripts will give you a sense of conversational flow and the kind of questions and responses you might run into in the real world to help prevent you from freezing up.

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Chinese Conversation Openers

Before you start any conversation, you want to make sure that approaching someone in Chinese will not be offensive. People of other Asian nationalities probably won’t appreciate you assuming they’re Chinese.

If you aren’t sure whether the other person is Chinese or not, you can say “Hello” in English along with your 你好 (nǐ hǎo). Saying 你好 will work for you because you’re foreign, though it’s generally not how Chinese people greet each other.

If you can confirm that someone is Chinese before you start a conversation with them (for example, if you overhear them speaking Chinese), then you can skip the 你好 greeting altogether.

In that case, a much more natural way to start a conversation in Chinese is to state the obvious.

It’s like the way an English speaker might use a rhetorical question, like asking a colleague, “Hey, done with lunch?”—even though it’s clear that the colleague has already finished eating and gone back to work.

So in Chinese, you can try out these neutral conversation starter statements with a friend, a colleague, an acquaintance, your boss or even a stranger!

• 你回来了！ (nǐ huí lái le!) — You’re back!
• 你来了！ (nǐ lái le!) — You made it/You’re here!
• 好久不见！ (hǎo jiǔ bù jiàn!) — Long time no see!
• 吃饭了吧。 (chī fàn le ba.) — You’ve already eaten. (This is similar to asking “I take it you’ve already eaten?” and can be used if you’re meeting up with someone close to a mealtime. It’s also just a polite way to greet someone.)
• 最近很忙吧。 (zuì jìn hěn máng ba.) — [It seems like] You’ve been busy lately.
• 你的新工作已经开始了吧。 (nǐ de xīn gōng zuò yǐ jīng kāi shǐ le ba.) — So your new job has started.
• 这里的咖啡很好喝。 (zhè lǐ de kā fēi hěn hǎo hē.) — The coffee here is great.
• 今天天气还不错。 (jīn tiān tiān qì hái bù cuò.) — The weather is pretty good today.

Chinese Dialogues to Use with Anyone

These conversations can be used almost anywhere. You’ll have greater success if you can tweak the script to really fit your location and situation, but these base-level interactions will serve you well as is!

For each dialogue, you are person A and your conversation partner is person B.

Talk about them

Who doesn’t like talking about themselves sometimes? Inviting someone to do so is a great way to start a conversation.

The follow script could be a conversation in its own right, or simply the intro to a longer chat. Of course, if you’re in China, you’ll probably be safe skipping the first question.

A: 你是中国人吗？
(nǐ shì zhōng guó rén ma?)
Are you from China?

B: 是啊！
(shì ā!)
I am!

A: 中国哪里？
(zhōng guó nǎ li?)
Where in China are you from?

B: 我是__的。
(wǒ shì __ de.)
I’m from __.

A: 在那里有方言吗？
(zài nà li yǒu fāng yán ma?)
Is there a dialect in that area?

B: 有。
(yǒu.)
There is.

A: 你的母语是普通话吗？
(mǐ de mǔ yǔ shì pú tōng huà ma?)
Is Mandarin your mother tongue?

B: 是的 / 不是。
(shì de / bú shì.)
It is / No, it’s not.

Note that to answer the question 中国哪里？, they may say either a Chinese province or a Chinese city, which you can learn more about here.

Talk about the weather

To expand on the above conversation (or start a new one—notice the conversation opener below!), you can engage the other person in further questions about their background, hometown or nationality.

Just as in English, these topics are fair game for small talk in the Chinese-speaking world.

A: 今天天气还不错。
(jīn tiān tiān qì hái bù cuò.)
The weather is pretty good today.

B: 是啊！
(shì a!)
True!

A: 请问，您是哪里人？
(qǐng wèn, nín shì nǎ lǐ rén?)
May I ask, where are you from?

B: 我是哈尔滨人。
(wǒ shì hā ‘ěr bīn rén.)
I’m from Harbin.

A: 哇， 哈尔滨！那里的天气怎么样？
(wa, hā ‘ěr bīn! nà lǐ de tiān qì zěn me yàng?)
Wow, Harbin! What is the weather like there?

B: 哈尔滨的天气非常冷！
(hā ‘ěr bīn de tiān qì fēi cháng lěng!)
Harbin’s weather is very cold!

To really be prepared for this conversation, brush up on your Chinese weather vocabulary. You can also practice including information about your hometown and corresponding weather as well.

Talk about recent activities

Another casual conversation you can have (especially if you really hit it off with someone) is discussing what you or they have been up to.

This also works great if you run into an acquaintance or friend you haven’t see in a while. Here’s a sample dialogue between two old pals:

A: 好久不见！
(hǎo jiǔ bù jiàn!)
Long time no see!

B: 是的！
(shì de!)
Yeah!

A: 你最近怎么样？
(nǐ zuì jìn zěn me yàng?)
How have you been recently?

B: 我最近很忙。你呢？
(wǒ zuì jìn hěn máng. nǐ ne?)
I’ve been very busy. What about you?

A: 我也很忙，我每天都在学中文！
(wǒ yě hěn máng, wǒ měi tiān doū zài xué zhōng wén!)
I’ve been busy too. I’ve been studying Chinese every day!

B: 能听得出来！你的发音很有进步！
(néng tīng de chū lái! nǐ de fǎ yīn hěn yǒu jìn bù!)
I can hear the difference! Your pronunciation has really improved!

An easy continuation of this conversation could be asking them what hobbies they’ve been enjoying in their free time.

Talk about work

If you work with native Chinese speakers, they will probably greatly appreciate you learning their language.

Striking up a casual conversation with Chinese-speaking colleagues is a great way to build camaraderie and language skills.

Before diving into a work-related request or asking for help on a project, try easing into your conversation with a dialogue like this:

A: 你回来了！
(nǐ huí lái le!)
You’re back!

B: 回来了！
(huí lái le!)
I’m back!

A: 吃饭了吧？
(chī fàn le ba?)
You ate already?

B: 吃完了。
(chī wán le.)
[Yes,] I ate.

A: 那请问，你现在有空吗？
(nà qǐng wèn, nǐ xiàn zài yǒu kòng ma?)
Then may I ask, are you free right now?

B: 有，怎么了？
(yǒu, zěn me le?)
Yeah, what’s up?

A: 你可以帮我回一封邮件吗？
(nǐ kě yǐ bāng wǒ huí yī fēng yóu jiàn ma?)
Can you help me reply to an email?

B: 可以，没问题！
(kě yǐ, méi wèn tí!)
Sure, no problem!

Chinese Dialogues for Use in Your Country

The following few conversations are great to learn because you can ask a lot of the same questions and end up having totally different interactions in each situation.

Don’t forget to start with a basic greeting or a quick “get-to-know-you” question first!

Talk to a Chinese worker

Perhaps you’ve bumped into a Chinese speaker out and about in your hometown. You can strike up a chat like this:

A: 你读书还是上班？
(nǐ dú shū hái shi shàng bàn?)
Are you studying or working here?

B: 上班。
(shàng bàn.)
Working.

A: 你住在这里多久了？
(nǐ zhù zài zhè li duō jiǔ le?)
How long have you lived here?

B: 我__年搬到这里了。
(wǒ __ nián bān dào zhè li le.)
I moved here in __ [referring to the year].

A: 习惯了吗？
(xí guàn le ma?)
Have you gotten used to living here?

B: 习惯了。
(xí guàn le.)
[Yeah,] I’ve gotten used to it.

There are, of course, plenty of alternative answers the other person could give in this conversation. For instance, other answers to the question 你住在这里多久了？may include:

• 已经__年了。 (yǐ jīng __ nián le.) — It’s already been __ years.
• 已经__个月了。 (yǐ jīng __ gè yuè le.) — It’s already been __ months.
• 就__天了。 (jiǔ __ tiān le.) — It’s only been __ days.
• 我__年来了。 (wǒ __ nián lái le.) — I got here in __ [referring to the year].

If it was recent enough, they may just tell you the date they arrived.

In Chinese, durations of time are generalized. The only two components you really need for this answer are the duration of time (years, months, days, etc.) and numbers (one to 10 generally are good enough).

Another answer to 习惯了吗？could be 还没 (hái méi) — “Not yet.” Or, they might say 不习惯 (bù xí guàn) to mean “Not used to it,” which would usually be said when they’ve given up hope of getting accustomed.

Talk to a Chinese student

This conversation could start with the same questions as the last one. See where it diverges:

A: 你读书还是上班？
(nǐ dú shū hái shi shàng bàn?)
Are you studying or working here?

B: 读书。
(dú shū.)
Studying.

A: 你住在这里多久了？
(nǐ zhù zài zhè li duō jiǔ le?)
How long have you lived here?

B: 已经__个月了。
(yǐ jīng __ gè yuè le.)
It’s already been __ months.

A: 喜欢这边吗？
(xǐ huān zhè biàn ma?)
How do you like it here?

B: 不错！
(bú cuò!)
It’s not bad!

A: 你的父母还在中国吗？
(nǐ de fū mǔ hái zài zhōng guó ma?)
Are your parents still in China?

B: 还在。
(hái zài.)
They are.

Again, there are a range of answer options here, some of which we went over above.

In this example, the student answered 喜欢这边吗？with 不错, meaning “not bad” or “I’m liking it so far.” They could also say:

• 不太喜欢。 (bú tài xǐ huān.) — I don’t like it so much. (As in, “I’m only here because I have to be.”)
• 还可以。 (hái kě yǐ.) — It’s good. (As in, “It’s doable.”)
• 喜欢。 (xǐ huān.) — I like it here. (As in, “Two thumbs up.”)

Next, the answer to 你的父母还在中国吗？could also be 不在 (bú zài) — “They aren’t.”

If the person is older, however, you may not want to ask about their parents for obvious reasons. It would be more appropriate to ask: 你的家%