睡得好吗？
shuì de hǎo ma?
The English phrase "did you sleep well?" is translated into Chinese as 睡得好吗？ (shuì de hǎo ma?)
睡得好吗？ is a question used to ask someone if they had a good quality of sleep. It is commonly used as a polite greeting in the morning to show care for someone's well-being.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the verb 睡 (sleep), the structural particle 得 to link a verb to its manner of action, the adjective 好 (good) and the question particle 吗.
Which one should you use?
While 睡得好吗？ is a yes/no question, you can replace 好 with 怎么样 to form 睡得怎么样？, which makes it an open-ended question asking "how did [you] sleep?"
How do you pronounce it?
shuì de hǎo ma?
When do people say it?
When someone asks if you slept well, a common positive response is 睡得很好 (I slept very well) and a common negative response is 睡得不好 (I didn't sleep well).
Did you know?
- If someone tells you they didn't sleep well, a culturally typical response is to suggest they are 上火 (shàng huǒ), meaning they have too much 'internal heat'.
- The character 好 (good) in 睡得好吗？ is composed of the radicals for 'woman' and 'son', historically representing the ideal of a harmonious family.
- In many Chinese households, a more common morning greeting than asking about sleep is 吃了吗？, which means 'Have you eaten?'
Examples in context
- 你昨晚睡得好吗？Nǐ zuówan shuì de hǎo ma?Did you sleep well last night?
- 宝宝睡得好吗？Bǎobao shuì de hǎo ma?Did the baby sleep well?
Example conversation
A couple chatting in the living room in the morning.
- 佳怡 Jiayi浩然，你昨晚睡得好吗？Hàorán, nǐ zuówan shuì de hǎo ma?Haoran, did you sleep well last night?
- 浩然 Haoran睡得很好，谢谢。Shuì de hěn hǎo, xièxiè.I slept very well, thank you.
- 佳怡 Jiayi那太好了。Nà tài hǎo le.That is great.
- 浩然 Haoran你呢？Nǐ ne?How about you?
