# Chinese New Year with Your Partner's Family: What to Say, Day by Day (2027) Spring Festival 2027 with a Chinese-speaking family: greetings at the door, making dumplings, toasts, red envelopes, relatives' questions and saying thank you, with audio Source: https://www.saymei.app/resources/downloads/chinese-new-year-with-your-partners-family ## At a glance - Level: Beginner · HSK 1 - Format: Workbook · PDF · 17 pages · US Letter (prints on A4) - Price: Free · free with a saymei account · updated Nov 4, 2026 ## Download Free with a SayMei account, on the workbook's page: https://www.saymei.app/resources/downloads/chinese-new-year-with-your-partners-family. SayMei emails a copy too. ## A line from the workbook 过年好！ (Guònián hǎo!) — Happy New Year! ## By the end you can - Get your gifts and first lines ready before the trip. Ask your partner 你爸妈喜欢什么？, say who a gift is for with 给 + person + 的, and skip clocks, since 送钟 sounds like a phrase about funerals. 这是给您的新年礼物。 (Zhè shì gěi nín de xīnnián lǐwù.): This is a New Year gift for you. - Greet each relative at the door with a title and a wish. Say the title first, then the greeting, oldest first. Add 祝您身体健康！ to make it warmer, and ask 我该怎么叫您？ when you're not sure. 给您拜年了！ (Gěi nín bàinián le!): Happy New Year to you! - Make dumplings on New Year's Eve and laugh at your first ones. Ask to be taught, check your folding, and praise the family's dumplings with verb + 得 + adjective. 这样包对吗？ (Zhèyàng bāo duì ma?): Am I folding it right? - Raise a toast and thank the cooks at the reunion dinner. A toast in two parts: 我敬 + person + 一杯, then 祝 + a wish. Thank the cook with 阿姨辛苦了！ Tea or juice is fine. 我敬大家一杯！ (Wǒ jìng dàjiā yì bēi!): A toast to everyone! - Give red envelopes to children and take one politely. Say 不用了 once, take it with both hands and thank the giver with a wish. Give one to a child with 祝你学习进步！ 谢谢阿姨，新年快乐！ (Xièxie āyí, xīnnián kuàilè!): Thank you, Auntie! Happy New Year! - Chat through the Gala and visit relatives on New Year's Day. Use 了 for what has just started at midnight, and A + 就 + B to say kindly that you can't stay long. 不用忙了，我们坐一会儿就走。 (Búyòng máng le, wǒmen zuò yíhuìr jiù zǒu.): Please don't go to any trouble, we're only staying a little while. - Answer the questions every relative asks, lightly. Marriage, babies, work and pay: smile and give a short answer, with 挺 + adjective + 的 to sound modest. 不急，不急！ (Bù jí, bù jí!): No rush, no rush! - Join the games, help out and say no to more food. Ask 我可以一起玩吗？, lose with 我又输了，哈哈！, offer help with 我来 + verb, and leave a little in your bowl when you're full. 太好吃了，但是我吃不下了。 (Tài hǎochī le, dànshì wǒ chī bu xià le.): It's delicious, but I can't eat any more. - Thank your hosts and leave warmly. Use 别 + verb + 了 to stop a kindness, like being seen to the car, and message them when you get home. 谢谢你们的照顾！ (Xièxie nǐmen de zhàogù!): Thank you for taking care of us! ## What's inside - Moment 1: Before You Go: Gifts and Lines - Moment 2: At the Door: Greeting Relatives - Moment 3: Making Dumplings on New Year's Eve - Moment 4: The Reunion Dinner: Toasts - Moment 5: Red Envelopes: Giving and Getting - Moment 6: Watching the Gala and Midnight - Moment 7: New Year's Day: Visiting Relatives - Moment 8: The Questions Everyone Asks - Moment 9: Day Two: The Second Family Visit - Moment 10: Games: Mahjong and Cards - Moment 11: Helping Out and Saying No to Food - Moment 12: Leaving: See You Next Year - Review: New Year's Eve at a Restaurant - Checklist: Your Spring Festival Checklist ## How to use this book Twelve moments, one page each: lines to say, one language point and a culture tip. Play the free audio and say each line three times. At two moments a day the book takes about a week, so start in January. - Early January: Ask your partner first. Find out which relatives you'll see on which days, and whether you give red envelopes. Then do Moment 1 and shop for gifts. - Mid-January: The door and the gifts. Say Moments 1 and 2 aloud every day. Ask your partner for each relative's title and practise it with 过年好. - Late January: New Year's Eve. Moments 3 to 6: dumplings, the toast, red envelopes and the Gala. Buy new notes for any red envelopes you give. - Early February: The days after. Moments 7 to 12: visits, the questions, the second family, games, helping out and leaving. Agree with your partner which topics stay private. - 4 or 5 February: Act out the whole evening. Play the review on page 15 with your partner and check your answers at the back. Keep the page 16 checklist with you over the holiday. ## Who it's for Adult beginners spending Chinese New Year 2027 with a partner's or a friend's Chinese-speaking family, from packing the gifts to waving goodbye. It works for any couple, dating or married. Before you start: Nothing. Every line has characters, pinyin and English, and the free audio reads each one with a pause to say it back. Families celebrate differently, so read the culture tips with your partner. ## When is Chinese New Year 2027? Saturday 6 February 2027, the start of the Year of the Goat. New Year's Eve, with the reunion dinner, is Friday 5 February, the second day (初二) is Sunday 7 February, and the Lantern Festival on Saturday 20 February ends the season. The checklist on page 16 matches each day to its moments. ## Am I expected to give red envelopes? In many families adults who work or are married give them to the children, and sometimes to the grandparents, so ask your partner whether you give and to whom. Use new notes, and many people avoid amounts with a 4 in them. When you're given one, say 不用了 once, take it with both hands, and don't open it in front of the giver. ## What do I say when relatives ask when we're getting married? Smile and keep it short: 不急，不急！ ("No rush!") and 到时候一定告诉您！ ("We'll tell you when the time comes!"). These questions usually come from care. Moment 8 also has light answers about work and pay, and suggests agreeing with your partner beforehand which topics you'd rather keep private. ## Is this workbook free? Yes. The whole 17-page PDF is free, and you can look through its pages here before you download. There's no card and nothing to pay. ## Do I need a SayMei account? Yes, to download the PDF, and the account is free: sign up with Google, Apple or your email address. With it we email you a copy of the workbook, keep every workbook you download on your account on all your devices, save your place in the free online practice, and you can practise speaking with Mei Lin, SayMei's AI tutor. ## How do I print it? The PDF is US Letter size. On A4 paper, choose "Fit to page" (or "Scale to fit") in the print dialog so nothing is cut off. Print the whole workbook or only the pages you need; colour looks best, and black and white works too. ## Can I print copies for my class? Yes. Print as many copies as you like for your own class or family. To share it, send this page: everyone can download their own copy. Version 2026-11, updated Nov 4, 2026.