Mandarin phrase guide

How to say where are you from in Chinese

你从哪里来？ asks where someone comes from. In introductions, 你是哪国人？ more specifically asks their nationality.

Chinese

你从哪里来？

你從哪裡來？

Pinyin

nǐ cóng nǎ lǐ lái

Sounds like

knee tsong nah lee leye

Read it piece by piece

你

nǐ

knee

English IPA /niː/

从

cóng

tsong

English IPA /tsong/

哪

nǎ

nah

English IPA /nɑː/

里

lǐ

lee

English IPA /liː/

来

lái

leye

English IPA /leye/

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When to use 你从哪里来？

Neutral

Use this as a general question about someone's place of origin.
Because origin can be personal, ask it as part of a natural conversation rather than as an abrupt first question.

Other ways to say it

你是哪国人？

你是哪國人？

nǐ shì nǎ guó rén

What country are you from?

Neutral

你是哪里人？

你是哪裡人？

nǐ shì nǎ lǐ rén

Where are you from?

Conversational

Example conversations

Where are you from?

你从哪里来？

你從哪裡來？

nǐ cóng nǎ lǐ lái

I am from Canada.

我来自加拿大。

我來自加拿大。

wǒ lái zì jiā ná dà

Common mistakes

哪里 asks 'where'; do not omit 从 when using the literal 'come from' pattern.

Related Chinese phrases

How to say my name is 我叫 · wǒ jiào How to say what is your name 你叫什么名字？ · nǐ jiào shén me míng zi How to say nice to meet you 很高兴认识你 · hěn gāo xìng rèn shi nǐ