A collection of useful phrases in Shanghainese, a variety of Wu Chinese spoken mainly in Shanghai in China
There seems to be no standard transliteration system for Shanghainese and the various sources used for this page use different systems.
See these phrases in any combination of two languages in the Phrase Finder. If you can provide recordings, corrections or additional translations, please contact me.
| English | 上海闲话 (Shanghainese) |
|---|---|
| Welcome | 欢迎 (hju ying) |
| Hello (General greeting) | 侬好 (nóng hō) [nʊŋ.hɔ] 大家好 (da ga hō) - Hello everybody 饭吃过伐？ (ve qe gu va?) - "Have you eaten?" 饭吃过了伐？ (ve qe gu le va?) - "Have you eaten?" 侬吃过饭了伐？ (nóng qe gu ve le va?) - "Have you eaten?" 吃过了？ (qe gu le) - "I've eaten" - reply |
| How are you? | 侬好伐? (nóng hō va?)) 侬过得还好伐？ (nóng gu de e hō va?) |
| Reply to 'How are you?' | 我蛮好，谢谢 (wú mehō, yáyà) 蛮好。侬呢？ (mehō. nóng nak?) 马马虎虎，谢谢！ (so-so) 不太好，谢谢！ (not too good) |
| Long time no see | 老久勿看见侬 (lo jiu mak kyu ji nong) |
| What's your name? | 请问尊姓大名？ (qing1 wen1 zueng1 xing da ming?)) 请问侬信啥？ (qing wen nong xing sa?) 侬叫啥名子？ (nóng jyo sa ming zi?) 请问乃能称呼？ (qing wen na neng ceng hu?) |
| My name is ... | 吾信 ... (wú xin ...) 吾叫 ... (wú jiō ...) |
| Where are you from? | 侬是啥地方人？ (nong si sa di fang ning?) 侬來自啥地方？ (nong le zi sa di fang?) |
| I'm from ... | 吾是... 人 (ngu zi… ning) |
| Pleased to meet you | 吾很高興認到你 (ngu heng goh xing ning dak nong) |
| Good morning (Morning greeting) |
侬早 (nóng zō) 早安 (zō u) 早晨好 /a> (zō zëng hō) |
| Good afternoon (Afternoon greeting) |
|
| Good evening (Evening greeting) |
夜到好（ya dou ho) |
| Good night | 晚安 (wö a) |
| Goodbye (Parting phrases) |
再会 (zä wēi) |
| Good luck! | 祝你好運 (zuk nong ho yun) |
| Cheers! Good Health! (Toasts used when drinking) |
干杯 (gyu beh!) |
| Have a nice day | |
| Bon appetit / Have a nice meal |
吃的开心 (chia dak ke xin ) |
| Bon voyage / Have a good journey |
一路顺风 (yat lu shung fung) 一路平安 (yat lu bing eu) |
| I don't know | 吾伐晓得 (ngu veh xio de) |
| I understand | 吾曉得 (ngu xio teq) |
| I don't understand | 我伐曉得 (ngu ve xioh teq) 吾弗懂 (ngu fé dōng) |
| Please speak more slowly | 請農講慢的 (qing nong gang me di) |
| Please say that again | 請農再讲遍 (qing nong ze gang bi) |
| Please write it down | 写下来 (xiā ngu lä) 请侬写下来 (qing nóng xiā ngu lä) |
| Do you speak English? | 侬会得讲英文吗？ (Nóng we de gāng yīngvēn va?) |
| Do you speak Shanghainese? | 侬会得讲上海闲话吗？ (Nóng we de gāng sǎnghäengu va?) |
| Yes, a little (reply to 'Do you speak ...?') |
一点点 (yat di di) |
| How do you say ... in Shanghainese? | ...的上海闲话哪能讲 (... e sǎnghäengu na nung gang?) |
| Excuse me | 不好意思 (veh ho yi si) |
| How much is this? | 几钿？ (jih dih?) 价钿？ (gah dih?) 多少钞票？ (du så qo pio?) 这个是几钿？ (dek ze sih jih dih?) |
| Sorry | 对弗起 (dēi fé qì) 勿好意思 (vak ho yi si) |
| No problem | 勿要紧个 (vak2 yao5 jin3 aak1) |
| Thank you | 谢谢 (xá yà) 谢谢侬 (xá yà nóng) |
| Reply to thank you | 弗用客气 (fé yōng kē qì) 勿要谢 (viō jia) 没关系 (mak5 gue3 xi1) 勿要客气 (viō kē qì) 覅客气 (viō kē qì) 覅谢得个 (viō-jā teqreq) |
| Where's the toilet / bathroom? | 廁所间勒勒啥地方？ (ci su ge la la sa di fang?) |
| This person will pay for everything | 鈔票都这人付 (co pio dou de ning fu) |
| Would you like to dance with me? | 侬跟我跳舞吗？(nóng geng ngu tio wu va?) |
| I miss you | 我老想念侬个 (ngu laoxing ni nóng aak) |
| I love you | 侬爱你 (ngu eh nóng) |
| I'm not feeling well | 我有眼勿适意 (ngu yo di va sa yi) |
| Get well soon | 快点好起来 (kua di ho qi le!) |
| Leave me alone! | 死的远点 (Shi la yu di!) |
| Help! | 救命啊! (qiu ming a!) |
| Fire! | 着火了 (Sa hu la!) |
| Stop! | 停! (ting!) |
| Call the police! | 叫警察了! (jio jing cha le!) |
| Christmas greetings | 圣诞节快乐 (seng deh jiat hua le) |
| Easter greetings | |
| Birthday greetings | 生日快乐 (sang nie kuâ le) |
| One language is never enough | 只会得講一种闲话是不够的 (Tse wei dek gang e zhong e ngu zi ve guh uh) |
| My hovercraft is full of eels |
Recordings, corrections and additions by Donna Yu Ying and Weihang Xu
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.
Hear some Shanghainese phrases
Other collections of phrases in Shanghainese
http://www.17-minute-world-languages.com/en/shanghainese/
http://www.fyan8.com/shanghai/jichuhuihua.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghainese
Information about Shanghainese | Phrases | Numbers | Books about Shanghainese on: Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk [affilate links]
Cantonese, Hakka, Mandarin, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, Teochew
Written Chinese: Oracle Bone Script, Simplified characters, Bopomofo, Types of characters, Structure of written Chinese, Evolution of characters, How the Chinese script works, Xiao'erjing, General Chinese
Spoken Chinese: Mandarin, Dungan, Wu, Shanghainese, Wenzhounese, Yue, Cantonese, Weitou, Min, Jian'ou, Taiwanese, Teochew, Fuzhounese, Puxian, Hakka, Xiang, Gan, How many people speak Chinese?
Other Chinese pages: Chinese numbers (數碼) | Chinese classifiers (量詞) | Electronic dictionaries | Chinese links | Books: Chinese characters and calligraphy | Cantonese | Mandarin, Shanghainese, Hokkien and Taiwanese
[top]
You can support this site by Buying Me A Coffee, and if you like what you see on this page, you can use the buttons below to share it with people you know.
If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.
Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com
[top]
