Dialogue 1

Making telephone calls

wèi hello (on phone only) zhăo to look for… cóng…. lái to come from….. línshí last minute/temporary juédìng to decide/decision jīdòng to be excited/exciting shénme shíhou any time/whenever dōu emphatic word – used with questions Nĭ juédìng You decide Tài bàng le! Superb! shénme dìfang whereabouts (lit “what place”) jiā home/family bù háo zhăo not easy to find jiē to collect/to meet (somebody) yòng to use wán put after verb to indicate completed láobăn boss dă diànhuà to make telephone calls/to telephone bàngōngshì office hàomă number mìshū secretary fēnjī extension Nă yī wèi? Who is calling? jí shì urgent matter tóng with/and shāngliang to discuss/to consult tīng hăo to listen carefully (lit “listen well”) yāo one

 Wèi -  Hello. 

Alan:                Wèi, qíng zhăo yíxià Lĭ Màn.

Lĭ Màn:            Wŏ jiù shì.  Nĭ shì shéi’a?

Alan:                Wŏ shì Alan.  Cóng Yīngguó lái de Alan.

Lĭ Màn:            Zhēn de!  Nĭ shì shénme shíhou lái de?  Wó zěnme bù zhīdào?

Alan:                Shàng ge xīngqīsì lái de.  Shì línshí juédìng.

Lĭ Màn:            Wŏ tài jīdòng le.  Nĭ shénme shíhou lái kàn wŏ?

Alan:                Shénme shíhou dōu xíng.  Nĭ juédìng.

Lĭ Màn:            Jīntiān wănshàng xíng ma?

Alan:                Tài bàng le.  Nĭ zhù zài shénme dìfang?

Lĭ Màn:            Wŏ jiā bù háo zhăo.  Wŏ lái jiē nĭ ba.

Notes to Dialogue 1

Use of Wèi

The word is only used to open a telephone conversation.  It is basically a way of getting the attention of the person on the other end of the phone.  For example:

Wèi, nĭ shì Běijīng Fàndiàn ma?

Hello.  Is that the Beijing Hotel?

 

Wèi, Xiăo Liú zài ma?

Hello, is Xiao Liu there?

Some telephone expressions

If you want to speak to someone you can say one of the following:

Qíng zhăo yíxià Lĭ Màn?

lit: Please look for Li Man?

Could you get Li Man, please.

Note that the expression yíxià has the effect of mitigating the abruptness as it had earlier.

Qĭng wèn, Lĭ Màn zài ma?

Is Li Man around, please?

If you happen to be the one who answers the telephone and speak first, you can say one of the following:

Qĭng wèn, ní zhăo shéi?

lit: Please ask, you look for who?

Whom do you ant to speak to, please?

 

Wèi, nĭ shì náli?

lit: Hello, you are whereabout?

Hello, who is calling?

Use of ...cóng.. lái...

In English, prepositional phrases such as ‘from England’ come after the verb.  In Chinese, they occur before the verb.  For example:

Wáng xiáojie cóng Xiāng Găng lái.

lit: Wang Miss from Hong Kong come.

Miss Wang comes from Hong Kong.

Suppose you do not know where Miss Wang comes from.  The unknown information is ‘Hong Kong’.  Thus the question should be:

Wáng xiáojie cóng năr lái.

lit: Miss Wang from where come?

Where does Miss Wang come from?

More on the link word de

In the dialogue, Alan explains who he is by saying Cóng Yīngguó lái de Alan (The Alan from Britain). The word de links the verbal phrase with the noun. The complete sentence should actually be:

Wŏ shì cóng Yīngguó lái de Alan.

I am the Alan from Britain

Now you see that the above sentence can be taken apart into two simple sentences:

Wŏ shì Alan.

Wŏ cóng Yīngguó lái.

Construction shì... de

This construction has many usages.  Let’s look at two of them. First, it is used in interrogative sentences which ask about the time or manner of an action that happened in the past. The word shì is placed before the phrase that is being emphasised and de comes either at the end of the sentence or after the verb.  For example:

Nĭ shì shénme shíhou lái Běijīng de? or

Nĭ shì shénme shíhou lái de Běijīng?

When did you arrive in Beijing?

 

Nĭ shì zěnme lái de?

How did you get here?

Without shì... de, the first two sentences above become

Nĭ shénme shíhou lái Běijīng?

When are you coming to Beijing?

and the last sentence becomes:

Nĭ zěnme lái?

How do you get here/How are you going to get here?

Second the construction is used in positive sentences that emphasise the time or manner of a past action. For example:

Wŏ shì bābā nián kāishĭ xué Zhōngwén de.

I started to learn Chinese in ’88.

 

Wŏ shĭ qí zìxíngchē lái de.

I came by bike.

Note that shì is often omitted in the above two cases.  Thus we have:

Tā jí diănxià bān de?

What time did he finish work?

 

Wŏ zuò gōnggòng qìchē lái de.

I came by bus.

Let us compare the use of le and shĭ... de in describing a past action.

Tā zuótiān lái le.

She turned up yesterday.

 

Tā shĭ zuótiān lái de.

She arrived yesterday.

Tā zuótiān lái le is merely a statement about a past event (i.e. to confirm that something happened yesterday), whilst Tā shĭ zuótiān lái de emphasises the time ‘yesterday’ as opposed to any other time.

Use of Shì at the beginning of sentences.

You may have noticed that the pronoun ‘it’ is seldom used in Chinese.  Thus, the structure ‘It is/was’ is sometimes replaced by Zhè shì... (This is/was...).  For example:

Zhè shì línshí juédīng ma?

Was it a last-minute decision?

The pronoun zhě is often omitted.  So Shì occurs at the beginning of a sentence:

Shì línshí juédīng.

It was a last minute decision.

 

Shĭ Wáng Fāng ma?

Is that Wang Fang?

More on question words used in statements

Certain question words, when used in statements, especially in conjunction with the emphatic word dōu, function as indefinite pronouns.  Note how the meaning changes accordingly:

Word Item In Questions In Statements shénme shíhou when whenever/at any time năr where wherever zěnme how by whatever means

For the moment, let us focus on how to use shénme shíhòu in conjunction with dōu, which can be placed after shénme shíhòu.  For example:

Shénme shíhòu dōu xíng.

lit: Whenever be fine.

Whenever you like.

Dōu can also be placed after the verb, that is, if a verb is used.  For example:

Zánmen shénme shíhòu yóuyóng dōu xíng.

lit: We whenever swim be fine.

It’s fine with me whenever we go swimming

You can also use shénme shíhòu in the first part of a sentence, and dōu in the second part.  For example:

Nĭ shénme shíhòu lái, wŏ dōu zài.

lit: You whenever come I be in.

Whenever you come, I’ll be in.

If you want to negate the sentences with shénme shíhòu and dōu put the negation word after dōu. For example:

Xiáo Lĭ shénme shíhòu dōu méi yŏu kòng.

lit: Xiao Li whenever not have time.

Xiao Li never has time.

Question word shénme dìfang

Literally, shénme dìfang means ‘what place’.  In addition, it also means ‘wherabouts’ or ‘exactly where’.  For example:

Nĭ zhù zài Běijīng shénme dìfang?

Where exactly in Beijing do you live?

 

Nĭ qù le Měiguó shénme dìfang.

What places in America did you go to.

Use of jiā

Depending on the context, jiā can mean either ‘home’ or ‘family’.  For example:

Nĭ fùmŭ de jiā zài, shénme dìfang?

Whereabouts is your parents’ home?

 

Wŏ jiā yóu hěnduō rén. Wó yŏu yī ge dà jiā.

There are many people in my family. I have a big family.

Use of bù hăo + verb

As you know, bù hăo means ‘not good’.  However, when you have the pattern:

something + bù hăo + verb

it means ‘It is not easy to do something’.  For example:

Huŏchē zhàn bù hăo zhăo.

lit: Railway station not easy find.

It’s not easy to find the railway station.

 

Zhōngwén bù hăo xué.

lit: Chinese not easy learn.

It’s not easy to learn Chinese.

Use of jiē

Jiē means ‘to collect’ or ‘to meet’, usually someone.  For example:

Jīntiān wănshàng bā diăn bàn, wŏ yào qù huŏchē zhàn jiē wŏ māma.

I’m going to the railway station to meet my mother at half past eight tonight.

 

Nĭ xūyào wŏ qù jiē nĭ ma?

Do you need me to go and collect you?

Dialogue 2

 Diànhuà hàomă  -  Telephone numbers.

Jane:               Yŏngméi, nĭ yòng wán diànhuà le ma?

Yŏngméi:         Yòng wán le.

Jane:                Wó gěi zánmen láobăn dă ge diànhuà.

Yŏngméi:        Tā jīntiān bú zài bàngōngshì.

Jane:                Shì ma?  Ní yŏu tā jiā de diànhuà hàomă ma?

Yŏngméi:         Méi yŏu.  Nĭ kéyi dă diànhuà wèn tāde mìshū.

Jane:                Háo zhŭyi.

Secretary:       èr-liù-bā fēnjī.  Qĭng wèn, nă yī wèi?

Jane:                Wŏ shì Jane.  Wó yŏu yī jiàn jí shì tong Fāng jīnglĭ shāngliang.  Tīngshuō tā jīntiān bú zài bàngōngshì.  Nĭ kéyi gàosu wŏ tā jiā de diànhuà hàomă ma?

Secretary:       Kéyi.  Qíng děng yíxià.  Tīng háo.  Hàomă shì sì-liù-èr-yāo-bā-sān.

Jane:                Sì-liù-èr-yāo-bā-sān.

Secretary:       Duì.

Notes to Dialogue 1

Use of wán after the verb

When you put wán after a verb, it indicates that the action is completed.  It is similar to the English phrase ‘to have finished with/doing something’.  Whenever wán is used after a verb, le must be placed after whatever has been finished.  For example:

Ní chī wán wănfàn le ma?

lit: You eat finish supper?

Have you finished having your supper?

 

Wŏ yòng wán wèishēng jiān le. Nĭ qù yòng ba.

lit: I use finish bathroom. You go use please.

I’ve finished with the bathroom.  Do go and use it.

More on the preposition gěi

A phrase beginning with gěi... is always placed before the verbal phrase.  Thus, if you want to say, ‘to telephone somebody’ or ‘to make a phone call to somebody’, you say:

gěi + somebody + dă diànhuà.

For example:

Bié wàng le géi nĭ māma dă diànhuà.

Don’t forget to phone you mum.

 

Míngtiān wŏ yídìng géi nĭ dă diànhuà.

I’ll definitely give you a call tomorrow.

If you want to mention the number of phone calls made or to be made, put the numerals together with the measure word gè before diànhuà.  For example:

Zuótiān wó géi zánmen láobăn dă le liăng ge diànhuà.

Yesterday I made two phone calls to our boss.

More on the omission of de

The word de, which indicates an ownership relationsip, is usually omitted before jiā (home/family).  For example:

Nĭ jiā bù háo zhăo.

It’s not easdy to find your home.

 

Wŏ fùmŭ jiā zài Xiāng Găng.

My parents home is in Hong Kong.

However, it is not wrong to use de.  For example, it is perfectly right to say Nĭde jiā bù háo zhăo.  But de must be kept before diànhuà hàomă (telephone number).  The reason is that the concept of jiā is associated with people whilst diànhuà hàomă is just an object.  For example:

Wŏde diànhuà huài le.

My telephone number has been out of order.

 

Nĭ jiā de diànhuà hàomă shì shénme?

What is your home telephone number?

More on the measure word wèi

We learnt this measure word earlier.  The question Nă yī wèi? (lit: Which one?) is actually a polite way of asking ‘Who is it?’ on the telephone.  For example:

Wèi, nă yī wèi?

Hello, who is it?

It is also appropriate to ask:

Nĭ shì nă yī wèi?

lit: You are which one?

Preposition tóng

You may have noticed by now that prepositional phrases appear before verbal phrases.  Tóng meaning ‘with’ or ‘and’  is a preposition.  Thus tóng + somebody is a prepositional phrase.  This phrase must be placed before the verbal phrase.  For example:

Wó xiăng tóng nĭde mèimei shāngliang yī jiàn shì.

lit: I want with your younger sister discuss one matter.

I’d like to discuss something with your younger sister.

 

Ní xiăng tóng wŏ qù yóuyóng ma?

lit:  You want with me go swim?

Would you like to go swimming with me?

Note that tóng and hé are interchangeable.

Qĭng tīng hăo

Literally, this phrase means ‘Please listen well’.  It is like a sort of warning before you pass on a piece of important information on the telephone.  It is similar to the English phrase ‘Here it is’ or ‘Ready?’  For example:

A:  Qĭng gàosu wŏ Xiáo Lĭ de diànhuà hàomă?

      Please tell me Xiao Li’s telephone number?

B:  Qĭng tīng hăo.  Bā-sì-líng-wŭ-lìu-yāo.

      Here it is: eight-four-zero-five-six-one.

Use of the number yāo

Yāo is a substitute for yī (one).  Yāo is used when the number one occurs in telephone numbers, room numbers, bus and train numbers, etc.  The reason is that the pronunciation of yī is likely to be mixed up with qī (seven) when a series of numbers is read out.

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