How to Say “How do you say?” in Chinese
Small talk and travel · HSK 3
"How do you say?" in Chinese is 怎么说？ (Zěnme shuō?). The most useful sentence in any language learner's toolkit. The full pattern is X 用中文怎么说？; 'How do you say X in Chinese?' You can swap 中文 for 英文 (English), 粤语 (Cantonese), or any language.
Primary translation
怎么说？
Zěnme shuō?
Traditional: 怎麼說？
Variants by register
Formal
用中文怎么说？
Yòng Zhōngwén zěnme shuō?
Casual
这个怎么说？
Zhège zěnme shuō?
When to use it
The most useful sentence in any language learner's toolkit. The full pattern is X 用中文怎么说？; 'How do you say X in Chinese?' You can swap 中文 for 英文 (English), 粤语 (Cantonese), or any language. A native touch: many Chinese people will answer by typing the character in pinyin plus the character itself, because tones matter. If you want the written form, ask 怎么写？(zěnme xiě) instead. In Taiwan you'll more often hear 國語 (guóyǔ) for Mandarin rather than 中文.
Example sentences
这个用中文怎么说？
Zhège yòng Zhōngwén zěnme shuō?
How do you say this in Chinese?
“awkward”中文怎么说？
"Awkward" Zhōngwén zěnme shuō?
How do you say 'awkward' in Chinese?
对不起，我不知道怎么说。
Duìbuqǐ, wǒ bù zhīdào zěnme shuō.
Sorry, I don't know how to say it.