Recently I started getting questions and comments from people concerned about whether or not it is ok to say "ni hao ma" in Chinese, and if ni hao ma is even A direct translation is 你好吗？ ni hao ma? But you will find Chinese native speakers never use it to greet people, generally, they will use 你怎么样？ ni zen me yang? or 你最近怎么样？ ni zui jin zen me yang? (Ni hao!) 你好! It means "Hi!", "How do you do?", "Hello!" It is an everyday greeting and is used at any time, on any occasion and by a person of any social status. The reply should also be "你 好! (Ni hao!)". Nyu7.

ni hao vs ni hao ma