Mahjong in Chinese: the Words You'll Hear at the Table
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Three people sit around a table in a park pavilion, and the fourth seat is empty. Somebody waves at you and shouts 三缺一，来不来？ and you have no idea what you just agreed to.
Mahjong in Chinese sounds like a wall of noise the first time. In practice the table runs on a small set of words that come back every round. The ones below come from Field Guide 003, which follows an afternoon game in People's Park in Chengdu, and each has characters, pinyin and English.
The invitation: 三缺一
小伙子！三缺一，来不来？
Xiǎohuǒzi! Sān quē yī, lái bu lái?
Young man! We're one player short. Are you in?
三缺一 literally means "three, missing one". Mahjong needs four players, so this is how a table asks a stranger to sit down. If you have never played, say so:
我从来没打过麻将……
Wǒ cónglái méi dǎ guo májiàng……
I've never played mahjong…
The answer you'll probably get is the one from the guide's comic: 没关系！只要会数数，就能打！ (Méi guānxi! Zhǐyào huì shǔ shù, jiù néng dǎ!), "No problem! As long as you can count, you can play!" The usual way to say "play mahjong" is 打麻将 (dǎ májiàng), with the same verb 打 as in 打牌.
Mahjong words in Chinese for the tiles
A mahjong set has three suits, numbered 1 to 9, much like hearts and spades in cards.
- 万 (wàn), the characters suit. 万 means "ten thousand", and each tile shows a number above it: 一万, 二万…
- 条 (tiáo), the bamboo suit. 条 means "strip". Old tiles showed strings of coins; on the tiles they look like bamboo sticks.
- 筒 (tǒng), the dots suit. 筒 means "tube". The circles are old copper coins seen from the front.
Next to the suits are the honour tiles. The four winds are 东南西北 (dōng nán xī běi): east, south, west and north. Then come the three tiles English speakers call dragons: 中 (zhōng), always printed in red; 发 (fā), printed in green, as in 发财 "get rich"; and 白 (bái), the white tile that is almost blank. Many sets also have bonus 花 (huā), flower tiles, which you put aside for extra points.
In Chengdu you may never see most of these. People there play 四川麻将, Sichuan mahjong, with only 108 tiles from the 万, 条 and 筒 suits, so there are no winds, dragons or flowers.
The moves: how a round of mahjong sounds in Mandarin
A round follows the same order every time, and each step has its own word:
- 洗牌 (xǐ pái): shuffle all the tiles face down. 洗 is the verb for washing, so you literally "wash the tiles".
- 码牌 (mǎ pái): build the wall. Every player stacks a row two tiles high. The wall itself is the 牌墙 (páiqiáng).
- 掷骰子 (zhì tóuzi): roll the dice to decide where the wall is opened.
- 摸牌，打牌 (mō pái, dǎ pái): draw one tile, then discard one. 摸 literally means "to touch".
- 碰！ (pèng!): take a discard that makes three of a kind with two tiles in your hand.
- 胡了！ (hú le!): four sets of three and one pair. Push your tiles down and say it.
The guide's main text shows a turn from across the table. An old man in a flat cap draws a tile from the wall, studies it for a few seconds and puts one down: 戴鸭舌帽的老人从牌墙上摸了一张牌 (Dài yāshémào de lǎorén cóng páiqiáng shàng mō le yì zhāng pái), "The man in the flat cap draws a tile from the wall."
What players say at the mahjong table
Most of the talk around a game uses a handful of short lines:
轮到你了。 (Lún dào nǐ le.) It's your turn.
该我了吗？ (Gāi wǒ le ma?) Is it my turn?
你的手气真好！ (Nǐ de shǒuqì zhēn hǎo!) You're really lucky today!
哪里，哪里。 (Nǎli, nǎli.) Oh, not really.
再来一局！ (Zài lái yì jú!) One more round!
手气 is luck at the table, literally "hand air". When someone praises your luck, the polite move is to wave it away with 哪里，哪里. The winner in the guide does exactly that: 她不好意思地笑了笑 (Tā bù hǎoyìsi de xiào le xiào), "She smiles modestly."
You will probably need 诈胡 (zhàhú), a false win, sooner than you'd like. Shout 胡了 when your hand isn't complete and the table will tell you 这不是"胡"，这是"诈胡", "that's not a win, that's a false win." In the guide's comic, the penalty is pouring tea for everyone.
The one pattern you'll hear around every game
People at a mahjong table chat and drink tea while they play, and Chinese has a pattern for doing two things at the same time: 一边……一边…….
一边打麻将，一边聊天喝茶。
Yìbiān dǎ májiàng, yìbiān liáotiān hē chá.
Playing mahjong while chatting and drinking tea.
The structure is 一边 + verb, 一边 + verb. Use it for two actions that are going on at once, and not for one action after another. If your first afternoon goes like most, you'll say this one about yourself: 我一边喝茶，一边看他们打麻将。 (Wǒ yìbiān hē chá, yìbiān kàn tāmen dǎ májiàng.) "I drink tea while watching them play mahjong."
Mahjong Chinese cheat sheet
| Characters | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 麻将 | májiàng | mahjong |
| 打麻将 | dǎ májiàng | to play mahjong |
| 三缺一，来不来？ | Sān quē yī, lái bu lái? | We're one player short. Are you in? |
| 我从来没打过麻将。 | Wǒ cónglái méi dǎ guo májiàng. | I've never played mahjong. |
| 万 · 条 · 筒 | wàn · tiáo · tǒng | characters · bamboo · dots (the three suits) |
| 东南西北 | dōng nán xī běi | the four winds |
| 中 · 发 · 白 | zhōng · fā · bái | red, green and white dragon |
| 洗牌 | xǐ pái | to shuffle the tiles |
| 牌墙 | páiqiáng | wall of mahjong tiles |
| 摸牌 | mō pái | to draw a tile |
| 打牌 | dǎ pái | to discard / play a tile |
| 碰！ | Pèng! | Pung! (three of a kind) |
| 胡了！ | Hú le! | I've won! |
| 轮到你了。 | Lún dào nǐ le. | It's your turn. |
| 该我了吗？ | Gāi wǒ le ma? | Is it my turn? |
| 你的手气真好！ | Nǐ de shǒuqì zhēn hǎo! | You're really lucky today! |
| 哪里，哪里。 | Nǎli, nǎli. | Oh, not really. (modest reply) |
| 再来一局！ | Zài lái yì jú! | One more round! |
A note on mahjong in Chengdu
In mainland China and Taiwan, mahjong is a social activity as much as a game. Relatives, friends and neighbours sit around one table on the weekend, and it brings several generations together. The game in Field Guide 003 takes place in an open pavilion in People's Park, Chengdu, with a thermos of hot water on every table and jasmine tea in small porcelain cups. Nobody seems to be in a hurry. Without anyone asking, the woman in the red cardigan picks up the thermos, refills every cup and goes back to her tiles.
The guide ends with a saying adapted from Mencius: 独乐乐，不如众乐乐 (Dú yuè lè, bùrú zhòng yuè lè), "Enjoying something together is better than enjoying it alone."
Practise before your first game
The free sample shows how a Field Guide teaches words like these: you get a real situation, and every new word comes with characters, pinyin and English.
Everything in this article comes from Field Guide 003: Tiles, Tea & Friends: Mahjong. It is written for learners around HSK 2 to 4 and adds the full scene at the park table, 109 vocabulary words, the Field Kit with tiles, moves and phrases, four grammar patterns and exercises. The guide is €14, or €20 with the Writing Companion for handwriting practice.
If you're thirsty after the game, here is how to order bubble tea in Chinese.