Aims and objectives: To develop and validate the Chinese version of Verbal and Social Interaction Questionnaire for Nursing Students. Background: The development of caring interaction skills is particularly important for achieving better nursing student–patient interactions. Nursing students in China, as in most countries, have often failed to establish a caring interaction with their patients. There is a lack of instruments to explore the difficulties and problems in nursing student–patient interactions in China. Design: A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was carried out. Methods: Data for cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric testing purposes were collected between May 10, 2017 and November 11, 2017. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed; pilot testing, content validity and reliability were assessed for the translated questionnaire. EQUATOR guidelines for observational studies (strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology) were applied. Results: 716 nursing students from four universities in China completed the questionnaire. A pilot testing (n = 32) was conducted at a university hospital. The internal consistency reliability and the intra-class correlation coefficients were satisfactory. The overall content validity index was 0.95. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a four-factor solution, explaining 61.26% of the variance, and the items had factor loadings ranging from 0.46–0.82. The final model's fit indexes were relatively acceptable. Overall, this instrument demonstrated sound psychometric properties. Conclusion: The Chinese version of Verbal and Social Interaction Questionnaire for Nursing Students has a high level of reliability and acceptable content validity. However, some values in the construct validity assessment were lower than was hypothesised, suggesting a need for further model modification. Relevance to clinical practice: This easy-to-use instrument may help nursing educators, clinicians and managers in the assessment and development of students’ interactional skills during their training or student–nurse transition period. Using the questionnaire could both provide the students with a greater understanding of caring interactions and help the nursing educators gain a better comprehension of the students’ verbal, social and interactional skills. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd