I love holidays, even though I don’t celebrate most of them. Holidays are great topics of discussion. Talking about holidays adds a spontaneous element to tutoring sessions by adding current events to the class­­­. The great thing about holidays is that you can talk about it anytime. Of course, the best time is the month the holiday occurs. I generally talk about the holiday one or two weeks before or after the holiday.

 

Now I know what you’re thinking. Amy! Valentine’s Day has come and gone for a month now. Or could it be those italki people not keeping up with the times? In this article, I am also going to introduce for those who don’t know, 白色情人节 / bái sè qíng rén jié / White Valentine’s Day — which is on March 14th! (So those italki people timed it right after all).

 

 

A Friendly Reminder

 

It is important to respect a person’s privacy. Make sure the person you are having this discussion with is comfortable talking about relationship topics. I only recommend this topic under two conditions:

 

1. You have built up a good rapport with this person
2. This person is comfortable talking about relationship topics.

 

If one of the two conditions are not met, do not force a conversation. If both conditions are met, then let’s explore phrases and expressions we can use to talk about this lovely day! I have you covered when it comes to celebrating Valentine’s in China: from asking related questions, to discussing the activities (gift ideas included if you need some), and even reacting phrases.

 

 

Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

 

Even if we don’t have perfect timing for talking about Valentine’s Day, we can talk about Valentine’s Day conversational practices. As Valentine’s Day approaches, you can ask:

 

情人节快到了， 你有什么计划？

qíng rén jié kuài dào le ， nĭ yŏu shén me jì huà ？

Valentine’s Day is almost here, what is your plan?

 

If Valentine’s Day has already passed, we can ask:

 

情人节的时候你做了什么？

qíng rén jié de shí hou nĭ zuò le shén me ？

What did you do on Valentine’s Day?

 

情人节你是怎么过的？

qíng rén jié nĭ shì zĕn me guò de ？

How did you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

 

We can only continue this conversation if he/she actually celebrated Valentine’s Day! So we can ask:

 

你过情人节吗？

nĭ guò qíng rén jié ma?

Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

 

过 (guò) – Literally means to pass time (doing some activities), but for this type of questioning we usually translate 过 as “to celebrate”.

 

Similarly, we can ask:

 

你过春节吗？	你过圣诞节吗？
nĭ guò chūnjié ma?	nĭ guò shèngdàn jié ma?
Do you celebrate Chinese New Year?	Do you celebrate Christmas?

 

 

Titles, Gift Ideas & Activities

 

No one likes “no” for an answer, right? So hopefully we will get a “yes!”. Here is a short list of words and phrases we can use.

 

Titles
男朋友	nán péng you	boyfriend
女朋友	nǚ péng you	girlfriend
太太	tài tai	wife; Mrs.
先生	xiān sheng	husband; Mr.

 

Gift Ideas
送	sòng	to send/to give (gifts)
巧克力	qiăo kè lì	chocolates
鲜花	xiān huā	flowers
首饰	shŏu shì	accessories
衣服	yī fu	clothes
情人节卡片	qíng rén jié kă piàn	Valentine’s Day cards

 

Activities
看电影	kàn diàn yĭng	to watch a movie
休息	xiū xi	to rest
吃饭	chī fàn	to eat
做饭	zuò fàn	to cook

 

Let’s take a look at some example sentences with some of the words listed above:

 

我送了鲜花给我女朋友。

wŏ sòng le xiān huā gĕi wŏ nǚ péng you 。

I gave my girlfriend flowers.

 

我给我男朋友买了衣服。

wŏ gĕi wŏ nán péng you măi le yī fu 。

I bought clothes for my boyfriend.

 

我给我的太太做饭。

wŏ gĕi wŏ de tài tai zuò fàn 。

I cooked for my wife.

 

我们一起出去吃饭。

wŏ men yī qĭ chū qù chī fàn 。

We went out to eat in a restaurant.

 

Note: 出去 (chū qù) in here implies restaurant because it literally means to go out.

 

我们去看了电影。

wŏ men qù kàn le diàn yĭng 。

We went to watch a movie.

 

我们在家休息了。

wŏ men zài jiā xiū xi le。

We were at home resting.

 

 

Reactionary Phrases

 

Having discussed your Valentine’s activities, we can’t just move onto the next question or topic abruptly, so here are some ‘reactionary phrases’ you can use:

 

Words

 

甜蜜	tián mì	sweet
浪漫	làng màn	romantic
羡慕	xiàn mù	envy

 

Example sentences:

 

• 你们好甜蜜! That is so sweet!
• 你们好浪漫! That is so romantic!
• 你们好令人羡慕! I envy you guys!

 

Note: All the sentences above use 你们, which means you and your significant other. The sentences can also be translated as “You guys are so sweet/romantic”.

 

 

The Two Other Groups

 

So far, we have covered phrases for people who do celebrate Valentine’s Day, but what about people who don’t? In my experience, I have met two kinds of people so far. Ones that would say this about Valentine’s day:

 

 

罗曼蒂克	luó màn dì kè	romantic – A transliteration from the English word “romantic”.
特别	tè bié	special
浪费	làng fèi	to waste

 

我们觉得情人节并不特别，反而还很浪费时间和金钱。

wŏ men jué de qíng rén jié bìng bù tè bié ， făn ér hái hĕn làng fèi shí jiān hé jīn qián 。

Valentine’s Day is not a special day to us; it actually just wastes time and money.

 

While another group of people tend to tell me the following:

 

对我们来说， 每天都是情人节。

duì wŏ men lái shuō ， mĕi tiān dōu shì qíng rén jié 。

For us, every day is a Valentine’s Day.

 

Isn’t this just the perfect moment for the reactionary phrase “你们好甜蜜” (nĭ men hăo tián mì, That is so sweet)!

 

Now you are equipped with all the phrases you need for a conversation talking about Valentine’s Day. You might be disappointed that Valentine’s Day has long passed by the time this article is on italki. And you wanted to use some of the phrases you’ve just learned. However! There are two more occasions remaining this year that you can use the above phrases from this article. One is on White Day, while the other one is during Qixi Festival.

 

• 2 月 14 日是情人节。
• 2 yuè 14 rì shì qíng rén jié 。
• February 14th is Valentine’s Day.

 

• 3 月 14 日是白色情人节。
• 3 yuè 14 rì shì bái sè qíng rén jié 。
• March 14th is White (Valentine’s) Day.

 

• 农历 7 月 7 日是七夕。
• nóng lì 7 yuè 7 rì shì qī xī 。
• July 7th of lunar calendar is Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine’s Day).

 

Just to clarify some things:

 

• On Valentine’s Day, the ladies give gifts to the gentlemen.
• On White Day, the gentlemen return the favor to the ladies.
• Qixi Festival is Chinese Valentine’s Day.

 

White Day is coming shortly so you can use utilize what you have learned in this article pretty soon. You can also wait for the Chinese Valentine’s Day, which is on July 7th of the lunar calendar, so you have plenty of time to prepare yourself for a conversation! Only if you are comfortable doing so, share what you did on Valentine’s Day in Chinese with us in the comment section below!