How to say "long time no see" in Chinese

When To Use It

"long time no see" maps to 好久不见 (hǎojiǔ bú jiàn), a casual greeting phrase for social situations.

This phrase fits casual social contact, quick check-ins, and low-pressure interactions with friends or acquaintances.

Practice it first exactly as written, then swap in your own people, places, or objects so it becomes part of your active speaking repertoire.

Tone And Delivery

The register is casual, so it sounds best with friends, peers, or relaxed service interactions rather than formal customer-service scripts.

Because this is marked beginner, you should aim to recognize it instantly and reuse it with your own names, nouns, locations, or numbers.

A good practice target is the example sentence 你回来了，好久不见！ (nǐ huílái le, hǎojiǔ bú jiàn!). Once that feels natural, shorten your pause and try it at conversation speed.

Practice Ideas

This phrase becomes more useful when you learn it as part of a mini-sequence. After saying it, a natural next step could be 明天见 (míngtiān jiàn).

A second nearby phrase to review is 加我微信 (jiā wǒ Wēixìn), which helps you stay in the same topic instead of translating from scratch again.

• Read the example “You're back, long time no see!” aloud, then replace one detail with your own information.
• Pair it with “See you tomorrow” next so your conversation does not stop after a single line.
• Match the phrase to your tone of voice: soft for polite requests, flatter and quicker for routine daily use.
• If you hear a slightly different version in the wild, compare the tone and context before treating it as interchangeable.