同学们好
The English phrase 'hello class' is translated into Chinese as 同学们好.
同学们好 is typically used by a teacher to greet a group of students at the beginning of a lesson.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of 同学 (classmate), 们 (plural marker) and 好 (good/well).
Which one should you use?
While a teacher says 同学们好 to the students, the students respond with 老师好 (hello teacher) to the teacher.
How does it change in a sentence?
The suffix 们 is added to 同学 to transform the singular 'classmate' into the plural 'classmates' to address the whole group.
Did you know?
- The character 好 in 同学们好 is an example of a compound ideograph, combining the symbols for 'woman' and 'child', which together represent the idea of 'good'.
- In many Chinese schools, the greeting 同学们好 is often accompanied by the students standing up in unison before they speak.
- Using 同学们 to address a group is often considered more affectionate and warm than the more formal 学生们 which simply means 'students'.
Examples in context
- 同学们好，请坐。Tóngxuémen hǎo, qǐng zuò.Hello class, please be seated.
- 老师对大家说：同学们好。Lǎoshī duì dàjiā shuō: tóngxuémen hǎo.The teacher says to everyone: hello class.
- 同学们好，我们开始上课吧。Tóngxuémen hǎo, wǒmen kāishǐ shàngkè ba.Hello class, let's start the lesson.
Example conversation
A teacher enters the classroom to start the lecture.
- 晓雯 Xiaowen同学们好！Tóngxuémen hǎo!Hello class!
- 浩然 Haoran老师好！Lǎoshī hǎo!Hello, teacher!
- 晓雯 Xiaowen今天我们要学中文。Jīntiān wǒmen yào xué Zhōngwén.Today we are going to learn Chinese.
- 浩然 Haoran太棒了，我们准备好了。Tài bàng le, wǒmen zhǔnbèi hǎo le.Great, we are ready.
