Mandarin · 10 September 2026 · Tone Sandhi Patterns
你好
nǐ hǎoPinyin
hello / hi
phrase (greeting)
The standard everyday greeting in Mandarin. Composed of two underlying third tones (3+3), the first syllable '你' undergoes mandatory tone sandhi, shifting to a spoken second tone (nǐ -> ní) in natural speech.
In a sentence
今天一早去物业大厅办理退租点交，在大门口遇到保安，大伙热情地打了声招呼说你好。
Jīntiān yīzǎo qù wùyè dàtīng bànlǐ tuìzū diǎnjiāo, zài dàménkǒu yùdào bǎoān, dàhuǒ rèqíng de dǎ le shēng zhāohū shuō nǐ hǎo.
Early this morning I went to the property lobby to handle the move-out handover, ran into the security guard at the main gate, and everyone warmly greeted him saying hello.