You search “80 business Chinese phrases” because you want a sheet that survives the first meeting. That list does not give you the other person’s reply. It also does not tell you which HSK band holds the line. Work Chinese is a criterion: which lines you will reuse this month, and which exam level they sit on.
The phrase dump already lives at business phrases. The company-facing page is Chinese for business. This article does a different job: twelve short dialogues with hanzi, pinyin, and a gloss. They are grouped into greeting, meeting, email, and money, plus the HSK floor under each block.
HSK 1 and 2 are counter survival: 谢谢 (xièxie, thank you) and 多少钱 (duōshao qián, how much is it). Meetings and email need HSK 3 and 4. HSK 4 is broad conversation, not fluency. The map for that score is what HSK level is conversational.
Key takeaways
- A list of 80 phrases is not work Chinese. What matters is a dialogue you will reuse this month, with a slot for a name, a day, or a price.
- HSK 1–2 covers counter survival: 谢谢 and 多少钱. It does not cover a meeting or an email that asks for a file or a delay.
- Meetings and email sit on HSK 3–4: about 600 words at level 3 and about 1,200 at level 4 on the six-level HSK.
- HSK 4 is broad conversation, not fluency. FSI’s 2,200 hours are not office Chinese in 8 weeks, and this app’s 12,432 words are not the exam.
In this article
80 phrases is not a job
A list of 80 phrases looks like work because you can print it. In the room it fails. You lack the other turn, the name that changes, and the verb that was not on the sticker.
Search mixes three jobs. One: surviving reception. Two: not dying in a twenty-minute meeting. Three: writing a mail that asks for a file or a delay. Those three do not fit on the same PDF. The first lives in HSK 1 and 2. The other two need HSK 3 and 4 vocabulary.
The HSK 3 guide is the syllabus for that jump. It is not this article. The usual mistake is collecting 请多关照 (qǐng duō guānzhào, please take care of me) and not having 我同意 (wǒ tóngyì, I agree) when you need it.
Eighty lines also lie about time. The Foreign Service Institute places Mandarin near 2,200 classroom hours for professional working proficiency. You can read the framework on Wikipedia’s FSI page. That figure is not office Chinese in 8 weeks. It is also not a promise that 80 phrases let you invoice in Chinese.
If your real week is 20 minutes a day, you will not swallow a whole business deck. You will reuse four situations: walking in, sitting down to talk, writing, and closing a price. Twelve dialogues cover that. Eighty stickers do not.
Reuse, do not collect
A work line is worth keeping if it passes three filters. You will say it this month. The other person has a likely reply. You can swap one slot: a name, a day, a price, or a file.
If it fails one of the three, it is collecting. 合同已经签了 (hétong yǐjīng qiān le, the contract is already signed) sounds like an office. It does not help you if you still lack 会议 (huìyì, meeting) and 电子邮件 (diànzǐ yóujiàn, email).
The slot is the method. In 我是安娜 (wǒ shì Ānnà, I am Ana) you change the name. In 下星期一 (xià xīngqīyī, next Monday) you change the day. In 一共五千元 (yígòng wǔ qiān yuán, 5,000 yuan in total) you change the figure. A line with a slot can be drilled. A list of 80 gets forgotten.
Drilling means voice, not recognition alone. Say turn A. Pause. Say turn B. If 经理 (jīnglǐ, manager) flattens on the third tone, that is tomorrow’s queue, not a new list.
Do not mix register in month one. 你好 (nǐ hǎo, hi) and 您 (nín, the polite you) are not the same job. At reception, use 您. With a colleague who already uses 你, 你 is enough. The rule is not that more formal is more professional. Do not switch pronouns halfway down the hall.
When a line passes the three filters, pin it to vocabulary the exam actually names. That avoids the usual hole: LinkedIn lines sitting on HSK 2. The business phrases hub is still there if you want the inventory. Do not copy it into this week’s deck.
Work greetings: three dialogues
Office greetings are not 你好 in a vacuum. They need a name, a family name, who you are looking for, and a seat. HSK 1 and 2 hold the courtesy. 经理 and 同事 (tóngshì, colleague) already pull HSK 3.
Dialogue 1. You arrive and give your name.
A: 您好，我是安娜。(nín hǎo, wǒ shì Ānnà, hello, I am Ana)
B: 您好，我姓李。认识您很高兴。(nín hǎo, wǒ xìng Lǐ. rènshi nín hěn gāoxìng, hello, my family name is Li. Glad to meet you.)
A: 谢谢。我来找王经理。(xièxie. wǒ lái zhǎo Wáng jīnglǐ, thank you. I am here to see Manager Wang.)
Dialogue 2. They ask what you do here.
A: 我在这家公司工作。(wǒ zài zhè jiā gōngsī gōngzuò, I work at this company)
B: 你做什么工作？(nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò, what work do you do?)
A: 我是经理的同事。(wǒ shì jīnglǐ de tóngshì, I am the manager’s colleague)
Dialogue 3. You receive someone in the room.
A: 欢迎！请坐。(huānyíng! qǐng zuò, welcome. Please sit.)
B: 谢谢。这是我的手机。(xièxie. zhè shì wǒ de shǒujī, thank you. This is my phone.)
A: 请喝茶。(qǐng hē chá, please have some tea)
Reuse the slot: change Ana, Li, and Wang. Do not add 请多关照 until these three turns come out without the paper. 公司 (gōngsī, company) is HSK 2. 欢迎 (huānyíng, to welcome) is too. The floor is already there. The extra theatre is not.
Meetings: three dialogues
The meeting is the first block HSK 1 does not cover. You need to start, ask for a view, and fix a day. That lives in HSK 3 and 4: 开始 (kāishǐ, to start), 计划 (jìhuà, plan), 见面 (jiànmiàn, to meet), 同意 (tóngyì, to agree).
Dialogue 4. Open the meeting.
A: 我们开始吧。今天主要说这个计划。(wǒmen kāishǐ ba. jīntiān zhǔyào shuō zhège jìhuà, let’s start. Today we will mainly talk about this plan.)
B: 好。我先介绍一下。(hǎo. wǒ xiān jièshào yíxià, okay. I will introduce it first.)
A: 请说。(qǐng shuō, go ahead)
Dialogue 5. Ask for a view without fleeing into English.
A: 你觉得怎么样？(nǐ juéde zěnmeyàng, what do you think?)
B: 我觉得可以，但是我们很忙。(wǒ juéde kěyǐ, dànshì wǒmen hěn máng, I think it is fine, but we are very busy.)
A: 那我们少做一点儿。(nà wǒmen shǎo zuò yìdiǎnr, then let’s do a little less.)
Dialogue 6. Close with a date.
A: 我们什么时候再见面？(wǒmen shénme shíhou zài jiànmiàn, when shall we meet again?)
B: 下星期一，可以吗？(xià xīngqīyī, kěyǐ ma, next Monday, is that okay?)
A: 可以。我同意。(kěyǐ. wǒ tóngyì, yes. I agree.)
The slot here is the plan and the day. You do not need 议程 (yìchéng, agenda) in month one. If 计划 sticks in your throat, that word is HSK 4: drill it in this sentence, not on a “meeting vocabulary” list. 觉得 (juéde, to think / to feel) is HSK 2. The jump is not the opinion verb. It is holding the topic for two minutes.
Email and messages: three dialogues
Work email is not an IELTS paper. It is asking for a send, confirming it arrived, and saying you cannot come. 电子邮件 is on HSK 3. 收到 (shōudào, to receive) and much of the paperwork pull HSK 4. 请假 (qǐngjià, to ask for leave) is HSK 3 and saves more weeks than any English sign-off.
Dialogue 7. Ask for the file.
A: 请发电子邮件给我。(qǐng fā diànzǐ yóujiàn gěi wǒ, please send me an email)
B: 好。今天下午发。(hǎo. jīntiān xiàwǔ fā, okay. I will send it this afternoon.)
A: 谢谢。我等你的电子邮件。(xièxie. wǒ děng nǐ de diànzǐ yóujiàn, thank you. I will wait for your email.)
Dialogue 8. Confirm it arrived.
A: 你收到电子邮件了吗？(nǐ shōudào diànzǐ yóujiàn le ma, did you get the email?)
B: 收到了。没有问题。(shōudào le. méiyǒu wèntí, I got it. No problem.)
A: 那我们明天说。(nà wǒmen míngtiān shuō, then we will talk tomorrow.)
Dialogue 9. You cannot come, and you say so.
A: 对不起，我今天不能来。(duìbuqǐ, wǒ jīntiān bù néng lái, sorry, I cannot come today.)
B: 怎么了？(zěnme le, what happened?)
A: 我有事。我想请假。(wǒ yǒu shì. wǒ xiǎng qǐngjià, I have something to deal with. I want to ask for leave.)
Reuse the slot for the day and the channel. If your team uses WeChat, the line is still 请发给我 (qǐng fā gěi wǒ, please send it to me). Do not collect 抄送 (chāosòng, CC) until 收到 comes out loud. If you cannot say the mail, do not write it in Chinese yet.
Money and prices: three dialogues
Work money starts where travel money starts: 多少钱. HSK 1 lets you ask. The work jump is the total, the currency, and how you pay. 一共 (yígòng, in total) and 元 (yuán, yuan) enter at HSK 3. 付款 (fùkuǎn, to pay) and 发票 (fāpiào, invoice) already sit on HSK 4.
Dialogue 10. A price at a counter or a trade stand.
A: 这个多少钱？(zhège duōshao qián, how much is this?)
B: 三百块。(sānbǎi kuài, three hundred kuai.)
A: 太贵了。便宜一点儿，可以吗？(tài guì le. piányi yìdiǎnr, kěyǐ ma, that is too expensive. Can it be a bit cheaper?)
B: 可以。二百八十。(kěyǐ. èrbǎi bāshí, yes. Two hundred eighty.)
Dialogue 11. The total and the invoice.
A: 一共多少钱？(yígòng duōshao qián, how much is it in total?)
B: 一共五千元。(yígòng wǔ qiān yuán, 5,000 yuan in total.)
A: 请给我发票。(qǐng gěi wǒ fāpiào, please give me the invoice)
Dialogue 12. Close the payment.
A: 这个没问题。我们买。(zhège méi wèntí. wǒmen mǎi, this is fine. We will buy it.)
B: 好。请付款。(hǎo. qǐng fùkuǎn, okay. Please pay.)
A: 我已经付钱了。(wǒ yǐjīng fù qián le, I have already paid.)
The slot is the figure. Drill 300, 5,000, and yours. Do not mix 块 (kuài, kuai) and 元 in the same sentence on day one: 块 is counter talk; 元 is the figure you want on paper. If your real job is a supplier, these three dialogues beat twenty ways to say win-win.
Which HSK band holds each block
HSK 1 and 2 hold the short greeting and the counter price. HSK 3 and 4 hold the meeting and the email. That is the rule. The rest is “business Chinese” marketing.
The six-level HSK accumulates about 150, 300, 600, 1,200, 2,500, and 5,000 words from HSK 1 to 6, per Wikipedia’s HSK page. Registration lives on chinesetest.cn. The CLEC coordinates Chinese language education abroad. The HSK 3 brochure talks about personal, study, and work needs, plus most tasks on a trip. HSK 4 talks about a relatively wide range of topics and communicating at a high standard with Chinese speakers.
That is not fluency. HSK 4 is broad conversation in the sense of topics, not a two-hour meeting without mental subtitles. The written paper does not replace HSKK. You can pass a reading item on 计划 and freeze when you say it.
Read the twelve turns with that rule: greetings stay HSK 1–2 plus 经理 and 同事; meetings and email pull HSK 3–4; money mixes 多少钱 with 发票.
Do not mix calendars. This site uses classic-style HSK 1–6. The 12,432-word catalog is not the chinesetest.cn paper. HSK 3 is about 600 words; HSK 4 is about 1,200.
FSI’s 2,200 hours are professional working proficiency, not an 8-week challenge. The honest floor for these twelve turns is HSK 3 with audio, then HSK 4 when the meeting leaves the script.
Start with the HSK 3 list
You do not need another list of 80 today. You need the HSK 3 words that already appear in these dialogues, said out loud, with the slot changed.
Open the HSK 3 vocabulary. Mark 同事, 经理, 电子邮件, 请假, 一共, 元, 见面, 同意, 介绍. Say the whole dialogue, not the lone card. When that holds, add the HSK 4 words the meeting and email blocks already asked for: 计划, 收到, 付款, 发票.
Chinese Trainer fits if you want that list in a queue, not a PDF of 80 business phrases. The long inventory stays on the phrases hub. The next study step is level 3, not another sticker.
Pinyin is the official romanization of Mandarin. Hanzi are the written Chinese characters. HSK is Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi. Reviewed by Javier Garcia Floriano. About us. Contact.
- Apply one method today, not a second streak.
- Measure one pair or one mock, not XP.
- Use the single CTA on this page.
Frequently asked questions
How many business Chinese phrases do I need?
There is no magic number. A list of 80 does not give you the other person’s reply. Twelve reusable dialogues (greeting, meeting, email, money) cover more real work than eighty stickers. The long inventory lives on the business-phrases hub; this post does not clone it.
Can I work in Chinese with HSK 2?
You can greet, give your name, and ask 多少钱. HSK 2 does not hold a meeting with a plan, a delay, or an email. The six-level brochure reserves work needs for HSK 3, about 600 words. That is still rehearsed survival, not a bilingual job.
Is HSK 4 enough for meetings and email?
HSK 4 (about 1,200 words) is the first level that describes discussing a fairly wide range of topics. 计划, 收到, and 同意 fit there if you rehearse them. That is not a two-hour board meeting or a contract. Speaking is a separate exam (HSKK). HSK 4 is broad conversation, not a native office speaker.
Should I study 80 phrases or the HSK 3 list?
Study the HSK 3 words that appear in dialogues you will actually say. Eighty stray phrases have no exam floor and no reply. Open the HSK 3 vocabulary list, mark what shows up in these twelve turns, and move to HSK 4 when the meeting leaves the script.
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