Intro Lesson
Basic word order
Chinese follows Subject + Verb + Object order, just like English.
The 也 (yě) pattern
"也" (also/too) always goes BEFORE the verb, never at the end like "too" in English.
The meaning behind 你好
你好 (nǐ hǎo) literally translates to "you good." It's a neutral, safe greeting used with strangers, colleagues, or anyone you meet for the first time. Among close friends, Chinese people often skip 你好 entirely and jump straight into conversation — similar to how native English speakers rarely say "How do you do?" to their friends.
Names in Chinese culture
In Chinese culture, the family name comes first. So "Li Ming" means the family is Li and the given name is Ming. When addressing someone formally, you use their full name or family name + title (like 李老师 Lǐ lǎoshī = Teacher Li). Using just the given name is reserved for close relationships.