“Long Time No See” – Origins and Usage in Chinese & English

Have you ever met someone after a long time and told them “Long time no see!”? It is a very warm way of getting in touch again after a long time. There even exist other adaptions such as “Long time no speak!”. Knowing how to say this expression using Chinese could be important for you when you want to reach out to someone after weeks, as it will make you sound very authentic.

In this short article, we will lead you through the origin of this phrase and how this expression came about to be used just so frequently! After teaching you how to say “Long time no see” in Chinese, we will also provide you with interesting alternative ways of expressing the same thing, and ways to respond in such a situation – Bringing some colour into your speech! Learning this phrase can be beneficial for building connections and expressing warmth in reunions with Chinese speakers.

Table of Contents

Origins of “Long time no see”

To start with, did you know that actually each time you say “Long time no see!”, you may be using a phrase that was originally used by Chinese speakers? There exist two acknowledged possibilities of origins to this phrase. Whilst it could have derived from Native American Pidgin English, the phrase is primarily believed to have been a direct translation of Chinese into English by Chinese immigrants in the United States during the 19^th century.

In recent years, “long time no see” has appeared frequently in modern English – eight out of ten greetings between people who have not seen each other for a long time start with this phrase! The previous, rather long expression “I haven’t seen you for a long time” has been exchanged with this new, shorter phrase.

We know that the English word “no” cannot be placed in front of “see”. English essentially does not allow these four words – long time no see – to be combined in this way, meaning their combination to appear cannot have come about on its own. According to The Concise Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary, English expressions with “face”, including “to lose face”, “to save face”, “to give face” etc., all stem from Chinese, too!

More Expressions with Face in Chinese :

Video 1 打脸 dǎ liǎn： How to Express “slap someone’s face” 打脸 in Chinese

Video 2 颜值 yán zhí : What does 颜值Yánzhí (Face score) mean in Chinese

Video 3 不要脸 bú yào liǎn: How to say shameless in Chinese

Saying “Long time no see” in Chinese

Looking at the whole system of word development, it is likely that “Long time no see” was the borrowing of a concept existent in Chinese. Since the 19^th century, the usage of this phrase spread and became a common greeting in English! Well, so, how then to say and understand this phrase in Chinese? Let’s look at it!

Most common way: 好久不见！(Hǎojiǔ bújiàn)

好久不见！ (Hǎojiǔ bújiàn) – literally: very long no see!

This phrase is the most common way to greet someone you haven’t seen in a while.

Now, imagine yourself in such a situation, but you don’t get to say it first! You may be worrying about how to reply to the other person telling you 好久不见 (Hǎojiǔ bújiàn). To help you out, let’s look at some authentic ways to respond!

How to respond when someone says 好久不见

When someone says to you “好久不见” (Hǎojiǔ bújiàn), you could respond with the following phrases. It is natural to add “是啊” (Shì a) in front of each, expressing agreement and equal surprise or excitement to meet the other person. Don’t worry, we will go through them one by one right after!

Common Responses:

是啊，好久不见了 (Shì a, hǎojiǔ bù jiàn le) – Yes, long time no see indeed.
嗯，是啊，最近怎么样？(Zuìjìn zěnme yàng?) – Yes (long time no see), how have you been recently?
久违，过得怎么样？ (Jiǔ wéi, guò dé zěnme yàng?) – Long time no see, how have you been?
这么久不见，还好吗？ (Zhème jiǔ bù jiàn, hái hǎo ma?) – It’s been so long, how have you been?
是啊，又见面了 (Shì a, yòu jiàn miàn le) – Yes, we meet again after so long.

To start with, it is very natural to respond with the same phrase 好久不见 (hǎojiǔ bù jiàn) , usually adding 是啊 (Shì a) – “right!” in front, and you may add the particle 了 (le) at the end. This is a very common way of replying. You could also replace 好久不见 (hǎojiǔ bù jiàn) with 久违了! (jiǔ wéi le) – meaning something along the lines of “not (done) in a long time”. Regardless of which one you choose, in general, despite the 是啊 (Shì a) in front it is natural to add something more after, such as asking for the person’s well-being: 最近怎么样？(Zuìjìn zěnme yàng?) or 过得怎么样？ (Guò dé zěnme yàng?) work perfectly here. You can also emphasise 好久 (hǎojiǔ), meaning “very long”, by saying 这么久 (zhème jiǔ), translating to “so long” – as in: So long we haven’t met! If you do not want to reply with the same phrase, you may use 又见面了 (yòu jiàn miàn le) to express “So, we are meeting again!”.

Alternative ways to express “Long time no see” in Chinese

If you are the first one to say the phrase, there are some other ways for you to express “好久不见 hǎojiǔ bù jiàn”, too! Firstly, as we have seen, you may use 久违了 (jiǔ wéi le). What’s more, look at the beautiful expressions below!

久别重逢 (Jiǔbié chóngféng) – literally: reunion after seperated for long

It is a Chinese idiom that can be used by friends (or relatives) meeting again after long.

一日不见，如隔三秋 (Yī rì bù jiàn, rú gé sān qiū) – literally: A day apart seems like three autumns

This is a Chinese idiom which you may use when having missed someone dearly and when you want to add extra colour to expressing so! For example: “Guys, not seeing you for one day is like three autumns. I really missed you!”

士别三日 (Shì bié sān rì) – literally: Three days apart seems like years

“Long Time No See” – Origins and Usage in Chinese & English

Origins of “Long time no see”