<p>Foreigners? I would say strangers.</p>

<p>We use "你好" or "您好" as a propriety. </p>

<p>To greet someone elder or higher status, we'll say "您好", if greet friends we'll say "嗨、哈囉" same to <strong>hi</strong> and <strong>hello</strong> to be more close, and say "你好" to someone not very familiar(strangers).</p>

<p>And yes, almost everyone use these to greet.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-22T00:51:16.527Z
2020-05-22T00:51:16.527Z
高鵬翔
<p>Most people treat 你好 as a formal greeting for example</p>
<blockquote>
<p>服务员:&quot;你好, 这位先生\女士&quot;</p>
<p>客服:&quot;你好，尊敬的用户&quot;</p>
<p>臣民:&quot;你好, 陛下&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As you can see from those examples, when we use 你好, it shows respect, but  feels a distance.</p>
<p>To make it informal, we can use 你好呀, which is also more often used.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-21T18:34:26.517Z
2020-05-21T18:34:26.517Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Ethan
<p>你好 could be used to strangers.</p>

<p>consider:</p>

<ul>
<li>Call their name or nickname (for your classmates / colleagues / family members same or younger generations) 小张，老李，王明</li>
<li>Call surname + position  (for your teacher / leader) 赵经理，王主任，孙老师</li>
<li>Call job occupation (for shop assistant / restaurant waiter / etc.) 服务员，师傅，老板</li>
<li>Call by family relationship (for family members elder generations) 爸爸，二姑，三舅母</li>
<li>....</li>
</ul>

<p>In case all these not work. You can still use 你好.</p>

<p><sup><sub>Someone could help me fix these English as it may not be represented correctly.</sub></sup></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-22T06:10:37.077Z
2020-05-22T06:10:37.077Z
tsh
<p>你好 is "hi", "hello". And everyone uses it. I don't think it's correct from what you described textbook. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-21T14:40:10.550Z
Why do you not think it's correct ? If you are Chinese then would your grandparents say 你好 to each other ?
Kantura
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-22T16:05:27.823Z
你好 is an all time, all age, daily used language for Chinese to greet each other.
asule
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-22T19:41:48.137Z
Hmm ... It sounds like you are merely basing that on your own personal experience.
Kantura
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-24T08:54:41.720Z
And it's true. https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BD%A0%E5%A5%BD/32416?fr=aladdin
asule
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-21T14:16:18.547Z
2020-05-21T14:16:18.547Z
asule
<p>My textbook says that ''until recently, 你好 was only used to greet foreigners, but now even native speakers use it to greet each other.''</p>

<p>Wow, so when was 你好 invented/added to the Chinese lexicon ?</p>

<p>Does the senior demographic in China use it ?</p>

<history>
Insight into 你好
# Insight into 你好

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-05-21)

My textbook says that ''until recently, 你好 was only used to greet foreigners, but now even native speakers use it to greet each other.''

Wow, so when was 你好 invented/added to the Chinese lexicon ?

Does the senior demographic in China use it ?

**Tags:** history

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-05-22. Score: 2

Foreigners? I would say strangers.

We use "你好" or "您好" as a propriety.

To greet someone elder or higher status, we'll say "您好", if greet friends we'll say "嗨、哈囉" same to **hi** and **hello** to be more close, and say "你好" to someone not very familiar(strangers).

And yes, almost everyone use these to greet.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-05-21. Score: 1

Most people treat 你好 as a formal greeting for example

> 服务员:"你好, 这位先生\女士"
>
> 客服:"你好，尊敬的用户"
>
> 臣民:"你好, 陛下"

As you can see from those examples, when we use 你好, it shows respect, but feels a distance.

To make it informal, we can use 你好呀, which is also more often used.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-05-22. Score: 0

你好 could be used to strangers.

consider:

* Call their name or nickname (for your classmates / colleagues / family members same or younger generations) 小张，老李，王明
* Call surname + position (for your teacher / leader) 赵经理，王主任，孙老师
* Call job occupation (for shop assistant / restaurant waiter / etc.) 服务员，师傅，老板
* Call by family relationship (for family members elder generations) 爸爸，二姑，三舅母
* ....

In case all these not work. You can still use 你好.

Someone could help me fix these English as it may not be represented correctly.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-05-21. Score: -4

你好 is "hi", "hello". And everyone uses it. I don't think it's correct from what you described textbook.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Why do you not think it's correct ? If you are Chinese then would your grandparents say 你好 to each other ?  
> **username_4**: 你好 is an all time, all age, daily used language for Chinese to greet each other.  
> **username_0**: Hmm ... It sounds like you are merely basing that on your own personal experience.  
> **username_4**: And it's true. https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BD%A0%E5%A5%BD/32416?fr=aladdin  

---

