How to say “Do you speak English?” in Chinese
“Do you speak English?” in Chinese is 你会说英语吗？, written in pinyin as Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma?.
你会说英语吗？
Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma?
Do you speak English?
Word by word
What each part of 你会说英语吗？ actually means.
- 你nǐyou
- 会huìcan / to know how to
- 说shuōto speak
- 英语YīngyǔEnglish
- 吗mayes/no question particle
When you use it
- When you need to know whether the person across the counter can switch to English — a station ticket window, a hotel desk, a hospital reception.
- 会 asks about a learned skill, so this is a question about their English rather than a request for it; swapping in 能 turns it into 'could you say it in English right now'.
Use 你会说英语吗？ in everyday situations. Greetings, thanks and the small words you use all day.
Other ways people say it
The same idea, said differently. Roughly in the order you'll hear them.
你会说英文吗？
Nǐ huì shuō Yīngwén ma?
Do you speak English?
英语 and 英文 both mean English. 英文 is the more common word in speech; 英语 is the one on school timetables.
可以用英语吗？
Kěyǐ yòng Yīngyǔ ma?
Can we do this in English?
Frames it as the situation rather than the person's ability, which is an easier yes to give.
有会说英语的人吗？
Yǒu huì shuō Yīngyǔ de rén ma?
Is there anyone who speaks English?
The escalator question. At a counter this gets you handed to a colleague instead of a shrug.
What usually trips people up
- A no from one person says nothing about the next one. English is a school subject in China and how much of it stayed varies a lot from person to person, so asking again down the queue is normal rather than rude.
- Do not drop the 会. 你说英语吗 asks whether they are speaking English at this moment, which lands like a complaint about the language they just used; 你会说英语吗 asks about the skill.
- It is a question, not an order. The tone people hear is 'is English possible here?', so a shrug at the answer is normal — the useful follow-up is 那请说慢一点 rather than the same sentence louder.
What you might hear back
- 会一点。Huì yīdiǎnA little.
- 不好意思，我不会。Bù hǎoyìsi, wǒ bú huìSorry, I don't.
- 这里没人会说。Zhèlǐ méi rén huì shuōNobody here speaks it.
Common questions
- How do you say "Do you speak English?" in Chinese?
- "Do you speak English?" in Chinese is 你会说英语吗？ — written in pinyin as Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma?. It is an everyday phrase you would use in China.
- What does 你会说英语吗？ mean in Chinese?
- 你会说英语吗？ (Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma?) means "Do you speak English?". Broken down word by word: 你 (nǐ) means "you"; 会 (huì) means "can / to know how to"; 说 (shuō) means "to speak"; 英语 (Yīngyǔ) means "English"; 吗 (ma) means "yes/no question particle".
- When would you use "Do you speak English?" in Chinese?
- When you need to know whether the person across the counter can switch to English — a station ticket window, a hotel desk, a hospital reception. 会 asks about a learned skill, so this is a question about their English rather than a request for it; swapping in 能 turns it into 'could you say it in English right now'.
Where you'll use it
你会说英语吗？ comes up in these situations, in this order.
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