We’ve talked a lot about the Chinese New Year – more commonly referred to as the Spring Festival (春节 – chūn jié) in Chinese – over the years here. For those who are relatively new to the blog, you should go ahead and browse through our Beginner’s Guide to the Spring Festival, which has links to past posts detailing the history, traditions, superstitions, and much more. Read through those, and you’ll be an expert on the most important holiday in the Middle Kingdom. While you’re at it, you might as well read about my Very Chinese Chinese New Year last year to get a feel for what it’s like celebrating the holiday in a village.

How we celebrated CNY last year in Yunnan.

As this is a blog focused on both culture and language, I thought I’d go ahead and post about Spring Festival in Chinese. Here are ten sentences describing the Spring Festival, each in Chinese, pinyin, and English for you to study.

春节是最重要的节日在中国.
chūn jié shì zuì zhòng yào de jié rì zài zhōng guó
Spring Festival is the most important holiday in China.

春节也叫中国新年.
chūn jié yě jiào zhōng guó xīn nián
Spring Festival is also called Chinese New Year.

每个人要回老家过年.
měi gè rén yào huí lǎo jiā guò nián
Everyone wants to return to their hometown to celebrate the New Year.

因为么个人要回家，所以买车票特别难.
yīn wèi měi gè rén yào huí jiā, suǒ yǐ mǎi chē piào tè bié nán
Because everyone wants to go home, it’s very difficult to buy tickets.

除夕的时候，家人在一起吃年夜饭.
chú xì de shí hòu, jiā rén zài yī qǐ chī nián yè fàn
On New Year’s Eve, family members eat a New Year dinner together.

北方人喜欢吃饺子，南方人喜欢吃年糕.
běi fāng rén xǐ huān chī jiǎo zi, nán fāng rén xǐ huān chī nián gāo
Northerns like to eat dumplings, Southerners like to eat New Year cakes.

每年很多人看“春晚”.
měi nián hěn duō rén kàn “chūn wǎn”
Every year many people watch “Chun Wan” (CCTV New Year’s Gala).

孩子们很喜欢春节，因为家人给他们红包.
hái zi men hěn xǐ huān chūn jié, yīn wéi jiā rén gěi tā men hóng bāo
Children really like Spring Festival, because family members give them red envelopes.

红包里面有压岁钱.
hóng bāo lǐ miàn yǒu yā suì qián
Inside the red envelopes there’s lucky money.

春节有很多传统，比如放鞭炮，舞龙，和春联.
chūn jié yǒu hěn duō chuán tǒng, bǐ rú fàng biān pào, wǔ lóng, hé chūn lián
Spring Festival has many traditions, for example lighting firecrackers, dragon dances, and Spring Festival couplets.

Now you’re definitely ready to ring in the Chinese New Year! Wherever you are, I hope you get to partake in some Spring Festival celebrations. You don’t have to be in China to celebrate, as I’ll detail in my next post about Chinese New Year around the world.