Northeastern Mandarin: 15 Common Words and What They Mean

Northeastern Mandarin is the everyday speech of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and central and northern Liaoning, plus the east of Inner Mongolia. About 98 million people speak it. Harbin, Changchun, and Shenyang each sound a little different, but the words below are shared across the region.

How Northeastern Mandarin Changes Standard Mandarin

Most rows below swap one word: 干什么 becomes 嘎哈, and 很 becomes 贼.

Questions and Everyday Verbs

Learn 咋 early, because 咋整 and 咋地 are built on it.

嘎哈呢？

What are you doing?Standard Mandarin: 干啥呢？GoEast Mandarin gives the greeting 你嘎哈去？, "What are you up to?" Chinese Wikipedia spells it 噶哈.

咋地了？

What's wrong?Standard Mandarin: 怎么了？爱咋咋地 means "do whatever you want", and it can sound rude.

整

To do, make, or getStandard Mandarin: 做、弄It's the most common Northeastern verb. 给我整两瓶啤酒 means "Get me two bottles of beer."

咋整？

What do we do now?Standard Mandarin: 怎么办？The World of Chinese example is 空调坏了，咋整？, "The air conditioner is broken, now what?"

唠嗑

To chatStandard Mandarin: 聊天别唠嗑了 means "Stop chatting." People all over China say it now.

瞅

To lookStandard Mandarin: 看Use it in a friendly way, as in 你瞅瞅, "take a look". GoEast Mandarin warns that a hard 你瞅啥？, "What are you looking at?", can start an argument.

嘚瑟

To show offStandard Mandarin: 显摆It's a mild tease, often said with a grin. It is also written 得瑟.

忽悠

To fool someone, to talk someone into somethingStandard Mandarin: 哄骗别忽悠我 means "Don't try to fool me."

猫

To stay in, to hole upStandard Mandarin: 待着The World of Chinese example is 放假我哪都不去，就猫家里, "On my days off I go nowhere and stay home."

Words for Describing Things

埋汰 is for dirty hands or a messy room, and 苞米 is the local word for corn.

贼

Really, superStandard Mandarin: 特别、很It goes straight before the adjective, as in 贼冷, "freezing". GoEast Mandarin gives the longer 贼拉, and The World of Chinese writes 贼啦.

埋汰

Dirty, messyStandard Mandarin: 脏GoEast Mandarin's example is 你的手真埋汰, "Your hands are filthy."

磕碜

Ugly, shabby, embarrassingStandard Mandarin: 难看It works for handwriting too: 你写的字太磕碜了吧, "Your handwriting is a mess."

这嘎达

HereStandard Mandarin: 这儿那嘎达 means "there" and 哪嘎达 means "where". Wiktionary and Chinese Wikipedia spell the second part 疙瘩 or 旮瘩.

苞米

CornStandard Mandarin: 玉米烤苞米 is grilled corn. It is also written 包米.

波棱盖儿

KneeStandard Mandarin: 膝盖我波棱盖儿疼 means "My knee hurts." It is also written 膊棱盖儿.

How Northeastern Mandarin Sounds

The four tones are close to Beijing's, and the first tone is a little lower. The bigger difference is in a few sounds. The curled-tongue sounds of 吃 and 是 often come out flat, like the sounds in 次 and 四, and in many places the sound at the start of 人 and 肉 drops away, so 肉 sounds like 右. Many younger people say 肉 the standard way.

Julesy's 7 Essential Dongbei Dialect Words You NEED to Know! and Rita Mandarin Chinese's Northeastern Mandarin Explained let you hear Northeastern speech.

Read Northeastern Mandarin in Lessons

Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Bubblegum lessons in the speech of Harbin, Changchun, and Shenyang at your level. Friends say 贼好吃 about the food, and a shop owner says 您瞅瞅 to a customer.

The best way to learn Northeastern Mandarin shows where to start.

Common Questions