| Welcome to Fun and Easy Chinese by ChineseClass101.com! |
| 嗨大家好，我是李殷如. Hài dàjiā hǎo, Wǒ shì Lǐ Yīnrú. |
| Hi everyone, Yinru Li here. |
| Do you know how to congratulate someone in Chinese? And do you know how to express your condolences in Chinese? |
| Life is filled with exciting and happy events that are worth celebrating; in the meantime, we have to witness and experience the heartbreaking moments of losing loved ones in our lives. |
| There are certain etiquette phrases we use in those events. |
| In this lesson, you’re going to learn the Chinese phrases for “congratulations” and “my condolences”. |
| There are two common ways to say “congratulations” in Chinese. |
| The first one is 恭喜 gōng xǐ。 |
| 恭 gōng means “respectful” 恭, and 喜 xǐ means “happy” or “joy”. |
| Together 恭喜 literally means “to respect the joy”, but it is a fixed expression that is the equivalent of “congratulations”. |
| [slow] 恭喜. |
| We say 恭喜 on events like weddings, engagements, pregnancies or the birth of a baby. These are considered the most happy events in one’s life. |
| In everyday conversations, 恭喜 is often said twice. 恭喜恭喜 gōng xǐ gōng xǐ. |
| For example, suppose your friend sends you a text telling you that she is going to have a baby, you can text her back: |
| 太好了！恭喜恭喜！Tài hǎo le! Gōng xǐ gōng xǐ! |
| “It’s so great! Congratulations!” |
| [slow] 太好了！恭喜恭喜！ |
| You arrive at a wedding reception, and the bride and groom are greeting guests at the hotel door. That is the perfect time to use the congratulating phrases. |
| You can say: 恭喜你们！百年好合！Gōng xǐ nǐ men ! Bǎi nián hǎo hé! |
| Which literally means “Congratulations you guys! Wish you a harmonious union that lasts a hundred years!” |
| 百年好合 Bǎi nián hǎo hé is a typical fixed expression or idiom used on weddings. |
| It literally is “hundred” 百 “years” 年 “good” 好 “union” 合, but is equivalent to something like “happily married, for years to come”. |
| [slow] 百年好合。 |
| Together 恭喜你们！百年好合！ |
| The other common way to say “congratulations” is 祝贺 zhù hè. |
| 祝 zhù means “to wish” . 贺 hè means “to celebrate”. |
| Together 祝贺 literally means “to send wishes and to celebrate”, but it is often translated also as “congratulations”. |
| [slow] 祝贺. |
| Examples: |
| Your colleague got promoted to a management position. In this case, you could say to him: |
| 祝贺你！Zhù hè nǐ！ |
| “Congratulations to you!” |
| [slow] 祝贺你！ |
| Your cousin got admitted to a college. During a family dinner, you give her a toast and say to her: |
| 祝贺你成为大学生！Zhù hè nǐ chéng wéi dà xué shēng! |
| “Congratulations on becoming a college student!” |
| 成为 chéng wéi means “to become” 成为，大学生 dà xué shēng means “college student” 大学生。 |
| Together [slow] 祝贺你成为大学生。 |
| Here are the subtle differences between the two “congratulations” 恭喜 and 祝贺: |
| Number 1, 祝贺 is more likely to be used for achievements and milestones in life that are the result of hard work, such as being admitted to college, getting a new job, getting a promotion, getting a new house, opening up a new business, etc. |
| 恭喜 is used more on happy life events, like we mentioned earlier, getting engaged, getting married, having a baby, etc. |
| 2, 祝贺 sounds more formal than 恭喜 in everyday conversations. |
| Condolences |
| When it comes to the etiquette phrases that are used to comfort the family during a funeral, this is the one you should know: 节哀顺变 jié āi shùn biàn. |
| It’s another fixed expression, which literally means “to restrain the sadness and accept the change in life”. |
| [slow] 节哀顺变. |
| It could be shortened to 节哀 jié āi. [slow] 节哀. |
| Other than this fixed expression, you can add other things to show your sympathy and concern, such as “please take good care of yourself.'' 请多保重 Qǐng duō bǎo zhòng. |
| 请 qǐng means “please”, 多duō literally means “a lot”, but is often used to kindly urge someone “please do ..”. And 保重 bǎo zhòng means “to take care” 保重。 |
| Together 请多保重. Qǐng duō bǎo zhòng. “Please do take care.” |
| [slow] 请多保重. |
| A cultural note: |
| you will see a lot of white color being used in Chinese funerals, and people attending the funeral are expected to wear black or plain dark colors; |
| whereas in the happy events and celebrations such as weddings, there’s always the color red. |
| In this lesson, we learned three etiquette phrases 恭喜，祝贺，and 节哀顺变 for major life events. Let’s see which of the three phrases you would choose to use in the following scenarios: |
| You were on vacation for two weeks. When you return to the office, |
| One of your colleagues shares the news that she is engaged. Which phrase would you choose to say to her? |
| 恭喜 恭喜 |
| Another colleague shares the news that he finally got his MBA diploma. What would you say to him? |
| 祝贺 祝贺 |
| One more colleague tells you the sad news that her grandmother passed away 3 days ago. To express your condolences, you would say: |
| 节哀顺变 节哀顺变 |
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| Thank you for watching. I’ll see you next time! 再见！ |
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