Apr 27, 2012

Greeting: chi bao le ma? (Are you full? = How are you?)



Literally, "chi bao le ma?" means "have you eaten yet?"
Or more exactly  "have you eaten to fullness?"

Chinese people usually use "chi bao le ma?" as a greeting~
It is similar to "How are you today?" in English.

Example:

[Chinese]
Mr. Wang:  chī bǎo le ma?
Ms. Chen:  chī bǎo le!

[English]
Mr. Wang:  Have you eaten yet? (meaning: How are you?)
Ms. Chen:  I've eaten~ (meaning: I'm fine)

More Information:

You might wonder what's the difference between "chi bao le ma" and "ni hao ma"
Please check:
Difference between "Chi bao le ma" and "Ni hao ma"

No comments:

Post a Comment