Practical Tianjin Eye-Dialect Phrase Book
Tianjin Beihua
Tianjin uses the same basic syllables as Mandarin, while its pitch contours and connected-speech changes are distinctive. Most famously, Tianjin first tone starts low and falls, so a written ā will sound very different from standard Mandarin ā. Tone combinations also undergo extensive sandhi.
A few essential readings:
介 — jiè — this
介似 — jiè sì — 这是, “this is”
嘎嘛 — gā mà — 干嘛, “doing what/why”
嘛 — mà — what/why in strongly local Tianjin pronunciation
您了 — nín le — polite “you”; le stays light
哏儿 — génr — amusing, interesting, remarkable
倍儿 — bèir — extremely, really
儿化 is shown by attaching -r: shìr, génr, bèir
Tianjin 嘛 is commonly pronounced mà, although Beijing-style Mandarin often has má in expressions such as 干嘛. 哏 here is gén, rather than hěn.
A classic sentence:
您了介似嘎嘛去？
Nín le jiè sì gā mà qù?
Where are you off to? / What are you going to do?
A detailed phonetic transcription recorded for this sentence is approximately /nin⁴⁵ lə³ tɕjɛ⁵³ sɿ⁵³ kɑ²¹ mɑ⁵³ tɕʰi³/.
1. Core Tianjin words
介 (jiè) – 这、这个 : this, this one
介似 (jiè sì) – 这是 : this is
内个 (nèi ge) – 那个 : that one
嘛 (mà) – 什么、为什么 : what, why
嘎嘛 (gā mà) – 干嘛 : doing what, why
您了 (nín le) – 您 : you, politely
你了 (nǐ le) – 你 : you
倍儿 (bèir) – 非常 : extremely
哏儿 (génr) – 有趣、有意思 : amusing, interesting
地界儿 (dìjièr) – 地方 : place, area
辙 (zhé) – 办法 : solution, way
崴泥 (wǎi ní) – 出问题、糟糕 : go wrong, get into trouble
俊 (jùn) – 漂亮、好看 : attractive, pretty
势 (shì) – 傻、笨 : foolish, dim
势不叽 (shìbujī) – 傻乎乎 : rather foolish
糟改 (zāogai) – 挖苦、取笑 : needle, make fun of
二八八 (èrbābā) – 水平一般 : average, mediocre
甭 (béng) – 不用、不要 : needn’t, don’t
瞅 (chǒu) – 看 : look
好么 (hǎo ma) – 好家伙、哎哟 : wow, good grief
These meanings and several example uses are documented in descriptions of Tianjin vocabulary, including 介、嘛、倍儿、哏儿、地界儿、辙、崴泥、势、糟改 and 二八八.
2. Essential questions
介似嘛？
Jiè sì mà?
What’s this?
介嘛玩意儿？
Jiè mà wányìr?
What is this thing?
介似嘎嘛的？
Jiè sì gā mà de?
What’s this for?
您了嘎嘛去？
Nín le gā mà qù?
Where are you going? / What are you going to do?
您了忙嘛呢？
Nín le máng mà ne?
What are you busy with?
为嘛呀？
Wèi mà ya?
Why?
嘛意思？
Mà yìsi?
What do you mean?
有嘛事儿？
Yǒu mà shìr?
What’s up?
出嘛事儿了？
Chū mà shìr le?
What happened?
您了找谁？
Nín le zhǎo shéi?
Who are you looking for?
介人谁呀？
Jiè rén shéi ya?
Who’s this person?
内谁呢？
Nèi shéi ne?
Where’s what’s-his-name?
介地界儿在哪儿？
Jiè dìjièr zài nǎr?
Where is this place?
介怎么卖？
Jiè zěnme mài?
How much is this?
介事儿您了知道吗？
Jiè shìr nín le zhīdao ma?
Do you know about this?
3. Greetings and polite conversation
您了吃了吗？
Nín le chī le ma?
Have you eaten?
您了最近嘛样？
Nín le zuìjìn mà yàng?
How have you been recently?
忙嘛呢？
Máng mà ne?
What are you up to?
劳驾您了。
Láojià nín le.
Excuse me / Could you help me?
麻烦您了。
Máfan nín le.
Sorry to trouble you.
您了给瞅瞅。
Nín le gěi chǒuchou.
Please take a look.
您了多担待。
Nín le duō dāndai.
Please be understanding.
得嘞，您了放心。
Délēi, nín le fàngxīn.
All right, don’t worry.
回见了您了。
Huíjiàn le, nín le.
See you later.
您了慢走。
Nín le màn zǒu.
Take care on your way out.
4. Reactions
好么！
Hǎo ma!
Wow! / Good grief!
介可倒好。
Jiè kě dào hǎo.
Well, look how this turned out.
可了不得了！
Kě liǎobude le!
This is serious! / Good heavens!
真有您的！
Zhēn yǒu nín de!
Nice one! / You really are something!
介叫什么事儿啊？
Jiè jiào shénme shìr a?
What kind of situation is this?
您了还真行。
Nín le hái zhēn xíng.
You’re actually pretty good.
介也太哏儿了。
Jiè yě tài génr le.
This is hilarious.
完了，介事儿要哏儿。
Wánle, jiè shìr yào génr.
Uh-oh, this situation is getting interesting.
Here 哏儿 can express approval, amusement, oddness or impending drama; context and delivery supply much of the meaning.
5. Compliments
倍儿好。
Bèir hǎo.
Really good.
倍儿棒。
Bèir bàng.
Excellent.
倍儿哏儿。
Bèir génr.
Really amusing or interesting.
倍儿地道。
Bèir dìdao.
Very authentic.
介事儿办得倍儿漂亮。
Jiè shìr bàn de bèir piàoliang.
This was handled beautifully.
介孩子长得真俊。
Jiè háizi zhǎng de zhēn jùn.
This child is really good-looking.
介地界儿真敞亮。
Jiè dìjièr zhēn chǎngliang.
This place is bright and spacious.
介人真局气。
Jiè rén zhēn júqi.
This person is generous and decent.
您了说话倍儿逗。
Nín le shuōhuà bèir dòu.
You’re really funny.
6. Disagreement and annoyance
别介。
Bié jiè.
Don’t do that. / Come on, don’t.
甭介。
Béng jiè.
Please don’t do that.
甭管了。
Béng guǎn le.
Leave it alone.
嘛也别说了。
Mà yě bié shuō le.
Say no more.
您了甭跟我来介套。
Nín le béng gēn wǒ lái jiè tào.
Don’t give me that routine.
别拿我糟改。
Bié ná wǒ zāogai.
Don’t make fun of me.
您了介不拿我糟改吗？
Nín le jiè bù ná wǒ zāogai ma?
Aren’t you just making fun of me?
别瞎惹惹。
Bié xiā rěrě.
Stop messing around.
介人有点儿势不叽的。
Jiè rén yǒudiǎnr shìbujī de.
This person is a little dim.
嘛毛病？
Mà máobìng?
What’s wrong with it? / What’s your problem?
您了可真够贫的。
Nín le kě zhēn gòu pín de.
You really do talk a lot of cheeky nonsense.
Use the final two carefully; tone can turn them from playful teasing into confrontation.
7. Problems and solutions
介可没辙了。
Jiè kě méi zhé le.
There’s no solution now.
有嘛辙呢？
Yǒu mà zhé ne?
What can we do?
赶紧想辙。
Gǎnjǐn xiǎng zhé.
Find a solution quickly.
完了，崴泥了。
Wánle, wǎi ní le.
Oh no, something’s gone wrong.
介下子算崴泥了。
Jiè xiàzi suàn wǎi ní le.
Now we’re really in trouble.
您了介事儿办崴泥了。
Nín le jiè shìr bàn wǎi ní le.
This thing you handled has gone wrong.
介事儿不好弄。
Jiè shìr bù hǎo nòng.
This is difficult to handle.
没治了。
Méi zhì le.
It’s hopeless.
介回麻烦大了。
Jiè huí máfan dà le.
We’ve got a serious problem this time.
8. Food and ordering
您了吃嘛？
Nín le chī mà?
What will you have?
介嘛馅儿的？
Jiè mà xiànr de?
What filling is this?
来套煎饼馃子。
Lái tào jiānbing guǒzi.
One jianbing guozi, please.
俩鸡蛋，多搁葱花。
Liǎ jīdàn, duō gē cōnghuā.
Two eggs, with extra scallions.
果子要脆的。
Guǒzi yào cuì de.
Make the fried dough crispy.
来碗嘎巴菜。
Lái wǎn gābacài.
A bowl of gabacai, please.
介味儿倍儿香。
Jiè wèir bèir xiāng.
This smells fantastic.
吃嘛嘛香。
Chī mà mà xiāng.
Everything you eat tastes good.
In Tianjin food vocabulary, 果子 can mean fried dough, and 嘎巴菜 is a local eye-dialect spelling of 锅巴菜.
9. Shopping and directions
内个给我来一个。
Nèi ge gěi wǒ lái yí ge.
Give me one of those.
介价儿可不低。
Jiè jiàr kě bù dī.
This price is pretty high.
还能便宜点儿吗？
Hái néng piányi diǎnr ma?
Can it be a little cheaper?
您了给个实在价儿。
Nín le gěi ge shízai jiàr.
Give me an honest price.
劳驾，介地界儿怎么走？
Láojià, jiè dìjièr zěnme zǒu?
Excuse me, how do I get to this place?
往前走，介就到了。
Wǎng qián zǒu, jiè jiù dào le.
Go forward and you’ll be there.
到前头停就行。
Dào qiántou tíng jiù xíng.
Just stop up ahead.
10. Tianjin-style banter
有嘛说嘛。
Yǒu mà shuō mà.
Say whatever you need to say.
您了可别拿话垫我。
Nín le kě bié ná huà diàn wǒ.
Don’t set me up as the butt of the joke.
介话我可接不住。
Jiè huà wǒ kě jiē bu zhù.
I can’t follow that line.
您了介包袱抖得够响。
Nín le jiè bāofu dǒu de gòu xiǎng.
You delivered that punchline well.
话不能撂地。
Huà bù néng liào dì.
Don’t let the conversational ball drop.
您了要是逗不乐，我可上去了。
Nín le yàoshi dòu bu lè, wǒ kě shàngqu le.
If you can’t make them laugh, I’m getting onstage.
The last two reflect Tianjin’s conversational and comedic culture; 话不能撂地 describes the expectation that somebody keeps the exchange going.
11. Three natural mini-dialogues
Meeting someone
A: 您了嘎嘛去？
Nín le gā mà qù?
Where are you heading?
B: 上前头买点儿东西。您了呢？
Shàng qiántou mǎi diǎnr dōngxi. Nín le ne?
Going up ahead to buy something. And you?
A: 我也没嘛事儿，瞎转转。
Wǒ yě méi mà shìr, xiā zhuànzhuan.
Nothing in particular, just wandering around.
Something goes wrong
A: 介机器怎么不动了？
Jiè jīqì zěnme bú dòng le?
Why has this machine stopped?
B: 完了，崴泥了。
Wánle, wǎi ní le.
Oh no, something’s gone wrong.
A: 赶紧想辙吧。
Gǎnjǐn xiǎng zhé ba.
Let’s find a solution quickly.
Friendly teasing
A: 您了看我介主意嘛样？
Nín le kàn wǒ jiè zhǔyi mà yàng?
What do you think of my idea?
B: 好么，您了介主意可真哏儿。
Hǎo ma, nín le jiè zhǔyi kě zhēn génr.
Good grief, that idea of yours is certainly interesting.
A: 您了介是夸我还是糟改我呢？
Nín le jiè sì kuā wǒ háishi zāogai wǒ ne?
Are you complimenting me or making fun of me?
The most useful Tianjin formula
Start with an ordinary Mandarin sentence and make one or two substitutions:
这 → 介
这个挺好。→ 介个挺好。
Jiè ge tǐng hǎo.这是 → 介似
这是什么？→ 介似嘛？
Jiè sì mà?什么 → 嘛
有什么事？→ 有嘛事儿？
Yǒu mà shìr?干嘛 → 嘎嘛
你干嘛去？→ 你了嘎嘛去？
Nǐ le gā mà qù?您 → 您了
您看看。→ 您了瞅瞅。
Nín le chǒuchou.非常 → 倍儿
非常好。→ 倍儿好。
Bèir hǎo.
A natural learner sentence usually needs only 介、嘛、您了、倍儿 or 哏儿. Packing every available dialect word into one line creates a stage-caricature effect rather than ordinary Tianjin conversation.