So now that you know how to tell your tutor that you don’t and do understand what they’re talking about in Mandarin, what do you say when you need more clarification, examples, or there are technical issues?

Plus, what can you tell your teacher at the end of the lesson besides the usual 謝謝你？

Here are 16 phrases to help you navigate your online tutoring lesson.

When you want clarification

1.) 比如說 …?

ㄅㄧˇㄖㄨˊㄕㄨㄛ

bǐrú shuō

For example…?

2.) 比方說 …?

ㄅㄧˇㄈㄤ ㄕㄨㄛ

bǐfangshuō

For example…?

When saying the two phrases above, you’ll want to drag out the word to suggest that you’re asking a question.

3.) 你能舉一個例子嗎 ?

ㄋㄧˇ ㄋㄥˊ ㄐㄩˇ ㄧˊㄍㄜ˙ ㄌㄧˋ ㄗ˙ ㄇㄚ˙

nǐ néng jǔ yī gè lìzi ma

Can you give me an example?

4.) 你可以造 一個句子？

ㄋㄧˇ ㄎㄜˇ ㄧˇㄗㄠˋㄧ ㄍㄜ˙ ㄐㄩˋ ㄗ˙

nǐ kěyǐ zào yī ge jùzi

Can you make a sentence for me (using the word you just taught me)?

5.) 你可以寫下來嗎？

ㄋㄧˇ ㄎㄜˇ ㄧˇ ㄒㄧㄝˇ ㄒㄧㄚˋㄌㄞˊㄇㄚ˙

nǐ kěyǐ xiě xiàlái ma

Can you write it?

6.) 你可以再說一次嗎？

ㄋㄧˇ ㄎㄜˇ ㄧˇ ㄗㄞˋㄕㄨㄛ  ㄧˊㄘˋ ㄇㄚ˙

nǐ kěyǐ zài shuō yícì ma

Can you say it again?

If you’re meeting your tutor or teacher for the first time, it’s best to say 請 (ㄑㄧㄥˇ/qǐng) before any of the sentences above. However, if the tutor or teacher is of your same age range, it’s not really necessary.

Before a lesson begins

7.) 老師好。

ㄌㄠˇ ㄕ ㄏㄠˇ

lǎoshī hǎo

Hi teacher.

While that sounds really strange in English, it’s a very common phrase in Chinese. Just saying 你好 will sound strange to them.

8.) 你準備好了嗎？

ㄋㄧˇ ㄓㄨㄣˇ ㄅㄟˋ ㄏㄠˇ ㄌㄜ˙ ㄇㄚ˙

nǐ zhǔnbèihǎole ma

Are you ready?

9.) 我準備好了。

ㄨㄛˇ ㄓㄨㄣˇ ㄅㄟˋ ㄏㄠˇ ㄌㄜ˙

wǒ zhǔnbèihǎole

I’m ready.

When there are fun, technical issues

10.) 不好意思，我的電腦卡住了。

ㄅㄨˋ ㄏㄠˇ ㄧˋ ㄙ， ㄨㄛˇ ㄉㄜ˙ ㄉㄧㄢˋ ㄋㄠˇ ㄎㄚˇ ㄓㄨˋ ㄌㄜ˙

bùhǎoyìsī ， wǒ de diànnǎo kǎzhù le

My computer froze.

11.) 再打電話給我一次。

ㄗㄞˋㄉㄚˇ ㄉㄧㄢˋㄏㄨㄚˋㄍㄟˇ ㄨㄛˇ ㄧˊ ㄘˋˋ

zài dǎ diànhuà  gěi wǒ yícì

Call me again.

12.) The call dropped. (The call ended unexpectedly.)

電話突然斷掉了。

ㄉㄧㄢˋㄏㄨㄚˋㄊㄨˊㄖㄢˊㄉㄨㄢˋㄉㄧㄠˋㄌㄜ˙

Diànhuà túrán duàndiào le

When a lesson ends

13.) 下次見！

ㄒㄧㄚˋ ㄘˋ ㄐㄧㄢˋ

xiàcì jiàn

See you next time!

14.) 謝謝你的幫忙。

ㄒㄧㄝˋㄒㄧㄝˋㄋㄧˇㄉㄜ˙ ㄅㄤ ㄇㄤˊ

xièxiè nǐ de bāngmáng

Thanks for your help.

15.) 感謝你的幫忙。

ㄍㄢˇㄒㄧㄝˋㄋㄧˇㄉㄜ˙ ㄅㄤ ㄇㄤˊ

gǎnxiè nǐ de bāngmáng

I appreciate your help.

16.) 我很感激你的幫忙。

ㄨㄛˇㄏㄣˇ ㄍㄢˇ ㄐㄧ ㄋㄧˇ ㄉㄜ˙ ㄅㄤ ㄇㄤˊ

wǒ hěn gǎnjī nǐ de bāngmáng

I’m really grateful for your help.

Have any other phrases to add or questions about how to say something? Let me know in the comments below!

Note of gratitude: This post wouldn’t be possible without the help of YuYuan, our native Taiwanese speaker. Read more about her here.