How to Say “How are you?” in Chinese
Small talk and travel · HSK 1
"How are you?" in Chinese is 你好吗？ (nǐ hǎo ma). 你好吗 (nǐ hǎo ma) is the textbook "how are you?" but native speakers rarely use it as a standalone greeting; it sounds textbook-formal. The natural alternatives are 最近怎么样 (zuìjìn zěnmeyàng, "how have things been recently?") or 最近忙吗 (busy recently?).
Primary translation
你好吗？
nǐ hǎo ma
Traditional: 你好嗎？
Variants by register
Casual
最近怎么样？
zuì jìn zěn me yàng
When to use it
你好吗 (nǐ hǎo ma) is the textbook "how are you?" but native speakers rarely use it as a standalone greeting; it sounds textbook-formal. The natural alternatives are 最近怎么样 (zuìjìn zěnmeyàng, "how have things been recently?") or 最近忙吗 (busy recently?). Expected replies are mildly positive: 还行 (all right), 挺好的 (quite good), 还可以 (so-so). A friendly 你呢 (and you?) returns the question.
Example sentences
你好吗？最近怎么样？
Nǐ hǎo ma? Zuìjìn zěnmeyàng?
How are you? How have things been recently?
还行，就是有点忙。
Hái xíng, jiùshì yǒu diǎn máng.
All right, just a bit busy.
挺好的，你呢？
Tǐng hǎo de, nǐ ne?
Pretty good, and you?