At a café, I asked my friend to help me with my work — she was surprised! But of course, I was just kidding. Let’s learn how to say “just kidding / to joke” in Chinese.

开玩笑 （kāi wán xiào)

Hello，大家好，我是 Janine。Hello, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Janine.

今天我和朋友在咖啡店聊天。Jīntiān wǒ hé péngyou zài kāfēidiàn liáotiān.

我对她说：“你要不要帮我做工作？我有很多工作。”Wǒ duì tā shuō: “Nǐ yào bù yào bāng wǒ zuò gōngzuò? Wǒ yǒu hěn duō gōngzuò.”

她说：“啊？帮你做工作？！”Tā shuō: “Ā? Bāng nǐ zuò gōngzuò?!”

我笑着说：“哈哈，开玩笑的啦！工作应该我自己做。”Wǒ xiào zhe shuō: “Hāhā, kāi wánxiào de la! Gōngzuò yīnggāi wǒ zìjǐ zuò.”

她也笑了，说：“你真会开玩笑。”Tā yě xiào le, shuō: “Nǐ zhēn huì kāi wánxiào.”

生活中，我们常常和朋友开玩笑。Shēnghuó zhōng, wǒmen chángcháng hé péngyou kāi wánxiào.