Useful Mandarin Words and Phrases for Dragon Boat Festival

By Urban Family, June 24, 2020

Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner, and you’re probably looking to brush up your Mandarin skills. In order to help you impress your fellow workers, friends and family, we’ve prepared a comprehensive list of Dragon Boat-related vocabulary and phrases.

Let’s start with the name of the festival itself. In Chinese it’s not a literal translation of ‘dragon boat.’ It’s actually an indication of the date of the festival – May 5 according to the Lunar Calendar.

Dragon Boat Festival
端午節
duān wǔ jié

Dragon Boat (Race)
龍舟(賽)
Lóng zhōu (sài)

Bamboo-wrapped glutinous dumplings
粽子
Zòng zǐ

Happy Dragon Boat Festival
端午節快樂!
Duān wǔ jié kuài lè

Can I have some glutinous dumplings?
有粽子嗎？
Yǒu zòng zǐ má?

Do you prefer sweet flavor or salty flavor?
你喜歡甜口的還是咸口的？
Nǐ xǐ huān tián kǒu de hái shì xián kǒu de?

What's the filling inside the glutinous dumplings?
粽子是什么餡兒的？
Zòng zǐ shì shén me xiàn’er de?

Pork filling
豬肉餡
Zhū ròu xiàn

Red bean paste
豆沙餡
Dòu shā xiàn

Salted egg yolk
咸蛋黃餡
Xián dàn huáng xiàn

What's your plan for the Dragon Boat Festival?
端午節有什么安排嗎？
Duān wǔ jié yǒu shén me ān pái ma??

Can I take a photo of this?
我能給這個拍張照嗎？
Wǒ néng gěi zhè gè pāi zhāng zhào mā?