7.1: Lesson 6 Dialogue 1- Leaving a message

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Dialogue:

（张友生给高大中打电话。）
张友生: 喂，请问高大中在吗？
室友：对不起，他不在。您哪位？
张友生：我叫张友生，是大中的同学。你知道他到哪儿去了吗？
室友：他到学校去上课了。
张友生：那他什么时候回来？
室友：他今天有两节课，晚上七点以后才回来。请问你有什么事？要不要留言？
张友生：好。请你告诉他，下个星期一我们有一个数学考试，可是我有两个问题不太懂，想问一下他。要是他今天晚上有时间，请他给我回个电话。我等他的回电。谢谢！
室友：别客气！拜拜！

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/chs101/?p=227#oembed-1

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/chs101/?p=227#h5p-23

Vocabulary:

Chinese	Pinyin	English
对不起	duì bù qǐ	phrase, sorry
给	gěi	prep., to/for
电话	diàn huà	n., telephone
给…打电话	gěi … dǎ diàn huà	verb phrase, give somebody a call
喂	wéi	greeting used to start a phone call
室友	shì yǒu	n., roommate
位	wèi	measure word for people
以后	yǐ hòu	conj. or prep., after
考试	kǎo shì	n./v., exam; to take an exam
节	jié	measure word for classes
课	kè	n., class, lesson
上课	shàng kè	v., to have/teach classes
知道	zhī dào	v., to know
时间	shí jiān	n., time
问题	wèn tí	n., problem
要	yào	v., to want
到	dào	v. to go to
留言	liú yán	v., to leave a message
别	bié	adv., don’t
下个	xià gè	adj., next
等	děng	v., to wait
数学	shù xué	n., math
懂	dǒng	v., to understand
要是	yào shì	conj., if
回	huí	v., to return
告诉	gào sù	v., to tell
客气	kè qì	adj., polite

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/chs101/?p=227#h5p-22

Grammar Notes:

1. The preposition 给 (gěi)：
   As a preposition, 给 helps show the target of a verb. There are two structures: (1) Subj. + 给 + Target + Action; and (2) Subj. + Action + 给 + Target. For example, “I called him yesterday” can be translated into either 我昨天给他打了电话 or 我昨天打了电话给他。However, the first structure is more often used than the second.
2. The modal verb 要 (yào)：
   要 has several meanings. (1) It can indicate a future action, particularly a scheduled event or an activity that one is committed to. The negative form is expressed by adding 不 and deleting 要. For example, 今天下午我要考试。In this sentence, 考试 is a scheduled event that 我 is committed to. Its negative form is 今天下午我不考试。(2) It can mean “to want, to desire”. For example, 我要吃饭。(I want to eat.)
3. Time expressions with 上/下:
   When talking about weeks and months, 上 is used to describe past time and 下 is used to describe future time. For example, 上个星期 (shàng gè xīng qí) means “last week” and 下个星期 (xià gè xīng qí) means “next week”. As you may have guessed by now, 上个月 (shàng gè yuè) means “last month” and 下个月 (xià gè yuè) means “next month”. Guess what the following expressions mean: 上上个星期、这个星期、下下个星期、上上个月，这个月，下下个月
4. The conjunction 要是:
   “要是…，就…” is used to mean “if…, then…”. It is often used in colloquial Chinese. For example, 要是你没空，就别来。(If you are not available, do not come.)
5. The preposition 以后
   It is often used to describe the events after a specific time. The structure is “Time + 以后…”, indicating that “after Time, something happens”. The only difference is that in Chinese 以后 should be put after the specific time while in English “after” is put before the time. For example,
   下午三点以后他回家了。(After 3:00 PM, he went home.)
   一个月以后我要去北京。(In one month, I will go to Beijing.)
6. The adverb 别 (bié)：
   It is used to advise somebody not to do something. It is used to deny a future action, similar to the English “don’t”. For example, “don’t give him a call” is translated into 别给他打电话。Note the adverb 别 is always put before verbs.

Culture Notes:

When answering a phone call, Chinese people would normally say 喂 (wéi) “hello/hey” or 喂, 你好 (wéi nǐ hǎo) for more formal phone calls.

Then they need to ask who is speaking: 请问是哪位? (qǐng wèn shì nǎ wèi) or 请问你是…? (Qǐng wèn nǐ shì)—Who is this? To answer the questions, simply say “我是… (wǒ shì)”—“I am…” or 这是 (zhè shì) + name of the company—“This is…” if you are talking on behalf of an organization.

If the person who picks up your phone call isn’t the person you want to speak to, you can ask “the name of the person + 在吗 …(zài ma)?” or “name of the person + 在不在 (zài bu zài)?—”Is … there?”. If the person is present, they would say “请稍等一下 (qǐng shāo děng yīxià)”—Hold on a second, please. If not present, they would say “他/她不在 (bu zài)” -He/she is not here. Then they would probably ask you to leave a message by saying “要留言吗 (yào liú yán ma)—Can I take a message?

When ending the phone call, they normally say “我先挂了 (wǒ xiān guà le)”—I’ll hang up first.