‘知恩图报。’

“Cherish others’ kindness at heart and pay back the favor.”

Introduction

Now that you hopefully at least started to learn ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘it’s okay’ we can take a shot at thanks, thank you, and you’re welcome.

Or possibly you’re close to giving up and you’ve come to the next article to see if it’s easier, I’ll tell you now that none of these articles will get easier.

They may fluctuate in difficulty levels but most, if not all, of the Chinese symbols are pretty difficult once you pass the numbers.

But don’t fret. It took me a little while to get the numbers down, let alone the few phrases I’ve learned afterwards.

But it gets easier once you start to get a couple of symbols down especially if you’re writing them correctly.

So if you aren’t confident to move on it possibly you could just take some time and practice the others and come back to this article once you feel comfortable in starting to learn a couple of new phrases.

But if you’ve already gotten them all down, then by all means read on.

Let’s begin!

Thanks

xièxie，【谢谢】，Thanks

Spell it as:
x-i-è x-i-e

12 strokes in 谢 / 24 strokes altogether

谢谢！This one only has two symbols and they’re exactly the same so I suppose it is much easier than ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘it’s okay’

So I suppose if you wanted to skip the other scary phrases for now and learn 谢谢 that may very well be easier.

But hey, if you’ve already learned everything and hunger for more, here’s more.

Let’s learn to write 谢谢。

How to speak and write 谢谢。

Thank You

xiéxie，【谢谢你】，Thank You

Spell it as:
x-i-è x-i-e n-ǐ

31 strokes altogether

Now that you know how to write 谢谢。It’s time to learn ‘Thank You’. It’s simple, it’s just one more symbol and it just so happens we’ve already learned how to stroke it.

Or maybe you haven’t gotten 你(nǐ) down yet and you’re using this section for more practice. That’s okay too!

It’s 你！Now in most phrases when we’re saying ‘You’ or ‘你’, then 你 would come in front of the phrase, but I suppose in some phrases it’s actually ordered the way that us Americans order it, it’s possible that 谢谢你 is the only exception, but don’t quote me on that.

‘Thank You’ would be 谢谢你。Now I know you’ve probably gotten 你 down and you may have even practiced 谢谢 enough to get it down before you even decided to start this section. But I’m still going to show you how to stroke 谢谢你。

xièxienǐ【谢谢你】

31 strokes

How to speak and write 谢谢你。

You’re Welcome

bùkèqi，【不客气】, Don’t mention it / not at all / you’re welcome / it’s my pleasure

Spell it as:
b-ù k-è q-I

17 strokes altogether

Now first off, before I even start this section, I must mention that bù is different from the other bu we most recently went over.

This 不(bù) means “no”. Not so much that it means no, I mean I’m sure it can mean no in select phrases,but really 不(bù) is more like a symbol for a negative response or answer, while 不(bu) from 对不起 is more of a neutral tone.

You may notice that ”不好意思。” has the same Pinyin as “不客气。” bú is pronounced a tad bit longer than bu.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “But Hank!” – “You’re welcome” isn’t negative at all.”

That’s not what I mean when I say negative. I mean that 不客气。is commonly translated to “Don’t mention it” or “Not at all.’ Commonly a response to 谢谢 as you’re welcome.

Though, I did some digging, both online and in my Chinese dictionary. Which I must start doing from now on because the results are just so amusing.

What I find amusing is the literal translation for 不客气。I shall list out each words meaning, and the literal translation makes a bit more sense on the ‘negative’ side of things.

  • 不 translates into “no, don’t“
  • Most of 客 translations translates into guest, visitor, customer, passenger etc.
  • And one of 气 translations translates into manner or style

So basically 不客气 directly translates into “Don’t act like a guest.“ or even “Don’t be so polite” so yeah. The Chinese your welcome is basically telling you to relax, unwind, and be a prude.

Now that I’m finished ranting, I’m going to be polite, and I’m going to show you how to write ‘不客气。’.

It will be split into three separate parts, since this is an entirely new phrase with a couple new symbols.

bù【不】

4 strokes

How to speak and write 不(bù)

kè【客】

9 strokes


How to speak and write 客

qi【气】

4 strokes

How to speak and write 气

Outro

Here’s a few points to remember

  • Don’t give up. After all, it only gets harder from here.
  • I will stress again, make sure you are stroking them correctly. Makes things a whole lot easier.
  • bù【不】 is a bit different from bu【不】 ，I’m aware of how confusing it can be. Seeing as they have the exact same symbol。 。 。 。Though one of them is a neutral tone (bu) and the other a negative adverb. (bù) we may want to make note of the difference.
  • And here’s a quick fun fact about 谢谢你 before we wrap things up! the literal translation of 谢谢你 is “Thanks you”. There isn’t really any plural in Mandarin or Chinese in general.