A collection of useful phrases in Taiwanese with Romanization and some recordings. The Romanization system used here is Pe̍h-ōe-jī. See the Taiwanese language page for more details.
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.
Key to abbreviations: sg = said to one person, pl = said to more than one person.
| English | 台語 / Tâi-gí (Taiwanese) |
|---|---|
| Welcome | 歡迎光臨 (hoan-gêng kong-lîm) |
| Hello (General greeting) | 你好 (lí-hó) - sg 恁好 (lín-hó) - pl |
| Hello (on phone) | 喂 (ôe) |
| Have you eaten? (Common greeting) |
你食飽未？
(lí chia̍h pá bōe/bē) 你有食飽無？(lí ū chia̍h pá bô？) used by a host to a guest to mean 'Am I making you comfortable? Am I fulfilling my duties to you as a host?' 你食飽無 (lí chia̍h pá bô) (lit. "Are you full?" / "Have you eaten?") |
| Reply: I have eaten ("I am full") | 食飽矣 (Chia̍h pá-ah) |
| How are you? | 你好無? (lí hó-bò) |
| (I'm) fine, thanks, and you? (I'm) not bad, thanks, and you? |
(我) 真好，多謝，你呢？ ((Góa) chin-hó, to-siā, lí-neh?) (我) 袂䆀，多謝，你呢？ ((Góa) bē-bái/bōe-bái, to-siā, lí-neh?) |
| Long time no see | 真久無看你 (chin-kú bô khòaⁿ lí) 誠久無看你 (chîaⁿ-kú bô khòaⁿ lí) 足久無看你 (chiok-kú bô khòaⁿ lí) |
| What's your name? | 請問，你貴姓？ (chhiáⁿ-mn̄g, lí kùi-sèⁿ?) 你叫啥物名？ (lí kiò sáⁿ-mih/síaⁿ-mih miâ?) |
| My name is ... | 我姓 ... (góa sèⁿ ...) 我叫 ... (góa kiò ...) |
| Where are you from? | 你是佗位的人？ (lí sī tó-ūi ê lâng?) |
| I'm from ... | 我是...人 (góa sī ...lâng) |
| Pleased to meet you | 我真歡喜佮你熟似 (Góa chin hoaⁿ-hí kah lí se̍k-sāi) |
| Good morning (Morning greeting) |
𠢕早 (gâu-chá) |
| Good afternoon (Afternoon greeting) |
午安 (gō-an) |
| Good evening (Evening greeting) |
暗安 (àm-an) 晚安 (bóan-an) |
| Good night | 暗安 (àm-an) 晚安 (bóan-an) |
| Goodbye (Parting phrases) |
再見 (chài-kiàn) |
| Good luck! | 好運 (hó-ūn) |
| Cheers! Good Health! (Toasts used when drinking) |
乾杯! (kan poe/pe!) 呼乾啦! (ho͘ ta là!) |
| Have a nice day | 祝你今仔日真好的日子 (chiok lí kin á ji̍t/li̍t chin hó ê ji̍t chí) 祝你今仔日真好天 (chiok lí kin á ji̍t/li̍t chin hó thiⁿ) |
| Bon appetit / Have a nice meal |
食福 (chia̍h hok) - Eat well, enjoy good food 食卡飽 (chia̍h kah pá) - Eat till satisfied 食氣 (chia̍h khì) - Eat up |
| Bon voyage / Have a good journey |
順行 (sūn-kiâⁿ) 順風 (sūn-hong) |
| Do you understand? | 你聽有無？ (lí thiaⁿ-ū-bô?) |
| I understand | 我聽有 (góa thiaⁿ-ū) |
| I don't understand | 我聽無 (góa thiaⁿ-bô) |
| I don't know | 我毋知影 (góa m̄ chai-iáⁿ) 我毋捌 (góa m̄ pat) |
| Please speak more slowly | 請講閣較慢 (chhiaⁿ kóng koh khah bān) |
| Please say that again | 請閣講一擺 (chhiáⁿ koh-kóng chi̍t-pái) |
| Please write it down | 請寫起來 (chhìa sía khí lâi) |
| Do you speak Taiwanese? | 你會曉講台語無? (lí ē-hiáu kóng tâi-gí bô) |
| Yes, a little (reply to 'Do you speak ...?') |
會曉, 一屑仔 (ē-hiáu, chi̍t-sut-á) 會曉, 一點仔 (ē-hiáu, chi̍t-tiám-á) |
| How do you say ... in Taiwanese? | 台語啥物講? (tâi-gí sáⁿ-mih/síaⁿ-mih kóng?) |
| How much is this? | 偌濟錢？ (lōa-chē/chōe chîⁿ?) (gōa-chē/chōe chîⁿ?) |
| Sorry | 失禮 (sit-lé) 歹勢 (pháiⁿ-sè) 對不起 (tùi-put-khí) |
| Please | 請 (chhiáⁿ) |
| Thank you | 多謝 (to-siā) 感謝 (kám-siā) 撈力 (ló làt) |
| Reply to thank you | 免客氣 (bián kheh-khì) 熟似 (se̍k-sāi) |
| Where's the toilet / bathroom? | 便所佇佗位？ (piān-so tī tó-ūi?) |
| This gentleman will pay for everything | 這位先生欲請你 (chit-ūi sian-seⁿ/sian- siⁿ/sian-sé beh/boeh chhiáⁿ lì) |
| This lady will pay for everything | 這位女士欲請你 (chit-ūi lí-sū/lú-sū beh/boeh chhiáⁿ lì) |
| Would you like to dance with me? | 你愛欲和我跳舞無？ (lì ài-beh/boeh hām góa thiàu-bú bô?) |
| I miss you | 我真數念你 (góa chin siàu-liām lì) |
| I love you | 我愛你 (góa ài lì) |
| Get well soon | 趕緊恢復 (kóaⁿ kín hoe ho̍k) |
| Go away! | 去！ (khì) 走！ (cháu!) |
| Leave me alone! | 莫關我！ (mài koan góa!) |
| Help! | 救命！ (kiù-miā!) |
| Fire! | 火！ (hóe/hé!) |
| Stop! | 停！ (thêng!) |
| Call the police! | 叫警察! (kiò kéng-chhat) |
| Christmas greetings | 聖誕節快樂 (sèng-tàn-chat/chiat khòai-lo̍k) |
| New Year greetings | 新年快樂 (sin-nî khòai-lo̍k) 恭喜發財 (kiong-hí hoat-châi) - used at Chinese New Year |
| Easter greetings | 復活節快樂 (ho̍k-o̍ah-chat/chiat khòai-lo̍k) 閣活節快樂 (koh-oa̍h-chiat khoài-lo̍k) |
| Birthday greetings | 生日快樂 (seng/seⁿ-ji̍t khòai-lo̍k) |
| One language is never enough | 一種語言永遠無夠 (chi̍t-chéng gí-giân éng-óan bô-kàu) |
| My hovercraft is full of eels | 我的氣墊船充滿了鱸鰻 (góa-ê khì-tiām-chûn chhiong-boán liáu lô͘-môa) |
Corrections and additional phrases provided by David L Chen (陳立偉)
Hear some Taiwanese phrases:
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Taiwanese_phrasebook
Learn Taiwanese (Hokkien) with Glossika
Information about Taiwanese | Phrases | Numbers | Family words | Time expressions | Tower of Babel | Books about Taiwanese 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
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