The rule: same characters, new reading — 你好 is nei5 hou2 in Cantonese, nǐ hǎo in Mandarin. If you read Mandarin, you already own half the vocabulary; this page maps the other half — pronunciation, when locals use something else, and where each word lives in the dictionary. Paste pinyin into the pinyin converter to check tone marks along the way.
| If you'd say (Mandarin) | Say (Cantonese) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 你好 nǐ hǎo (hello) | 你好 nei5 hou2 | Safe default; slightly formal between friends |
| 早上好 / 早安 (good morning) | 早晨 zou2 san4 | The Hong Kong morning word — see 早晨 vs 早唞 |
| 嗨 / 哈囉 (hi) | 哈囉 haa1 lo2 / hello | Friends, shops, any hour — English is fine |
| 你好嗎 (how are you) | 你好嗎 — sparingly | Direct with strangers; locals ask 食咗飯未 instead |
| Situation | Say | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Meeting a stranger, daytime | 你好 | Universal and polite — never wrong |
| Office at 9am | 早晨 | Morning has its own word; 你好 sounds stiff here |
| Bumping into a friend | Hello! / 哈囉 | Hong Kong mixes English freely |
| Making conversation after hello | 食咗飯未呀 | "Eaten yet?" — the phatic hello (see 咗 vs 緊) |
| Thanking after the hello | 唔該 / 多謝 | Service → 唔該, gift → 多謝 (see 唔該 vs 多謝) |
| Pointing while you talk | 呢個 / 嗰個 | This / that — see 呢個 vs 嗰個 |
Reading pinyin tones onto Cantonese — nǐ hǎo's dipping third tones don't exist here; nei5 hou2 rises twice. Say it Mandarin-style and locals hear an accent, not an error — but the two rising tones are the whole trick, so drill them. Second slip: opening with 你好嗎 to strangers. It interrogates; 食咗飯未 befriends.
All Mandarin-to-Cantonese guides, with the everyday word swaps: Mandarin to Cantonese. More learner answers on the FAQ page; greeting deep-dives: 早晨 vs 早唞; more classic mix-ups: 唔該 vs 多謝, 係 vs 喺; head-to-head dictionary picks on best Cantonese dictionary.
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