Using the Telephone in Mandarin

Young Chinese woman on telephone headset
Lucas Schifres / Getty Images

The conventions for making and answering phone calls in Mandarin Chinese are similar to English. The main difference is that calls are usually answered with ►wèi, which is a way of saying “hello” used only on the phone.

Knowledge of Mandarin numbers from zero to 9 is needed to give and understand phone numbers, so we will begin with a Mandarin number review.

Mandarin Number Review

Audio files are marked with ►

0 ►líng
1 ►
2 ►èr
3 ►sān
4 ►
5 ►
6 ►liù
7 ►
8 ►
9 ►jiǔ

Telephone Vocabulary

電話
mobile phone
xíng dòng diàn huà / ►shǒu jī
行動電話 / 手機
fax
chuán zhēn
傳真
hello (for telephone only)
wèi

what telephone number?
jǐ hào
幾號
call the wrong number
dă cuò le
打錯了
busy line
jiǎng huà zhōng
講話中
answer the phone
jiē diàn huà
接電話
please wait a moment
qǐng děng yī xià
請等一下
please leave a message (verbal)
qǐng liú yán
請留言
leave a message (written)
liú zì tiáo
留字條
area code
qū yù mǎ
區域碼
international
guó jì
國際
long distance
cháng tú
長途
direct dial
zhí bō
直撥
telephone company
diàn xìn jú​
電信局

Telephone Dialogue One

A: Hello.
B: Hello. Is Mr. Wang there?
A: I’m sorry, you have the wrong number
B: Is this 234-5677?
A: No, this is 234-9877.
B: Sorry!
A: No problem.
A: ►Wèi.
B: ►Wèi. Qǐng wèn Wáng xiān sheng zài ma?
A: ►Duì bu qǐ, nǐ dǎ cuò le.
B: ►Zhè lǐ shì 234-5677 ma?
A: ►Bú shì, zhè lǐ shì 234-9877.
B: ►Duì bu qǐ.
A: ►Méi guān xi.
A: 喂。
B: 喂. 請問王先生在嗎?
A: 對不起 你打錯了。
B: 這裡是234-5677嗎?
A: 不是 這裡是234-9877。
B: 對不起。
A: 沒關係。

Telephone Dialogue Two

A: Hello.
B: Hello, is Mr. Wang there?
A: Please wait a moment.
A: Hello.
B: Hello Mr. Wang, this is Li from Da Xing Company. Did you receive our company information that I sent you?
A: Hello Mr. Li. Yes, I received it, and I will call you back later to talk about it.
B: OK – very good.
A: Goodbye.
B: Goodbye.
A: ►Wèi.
B: ►Wèi. Qǐng wèn Wáng xiān sheng zài ma?
A: ►Qǐng děng yī xià.
A: ►Wèi.
B: ►Wáng xiān sheng nǐ hǎo. Wǒ shì Dà Xīng gōng sī de Lín dà míng. Nǐ shōu dào wǒ jì gěi nǐ de zī liào le ma?
A: ►Lín xiān sheng nǐ hǎo. Yǒu wǒ shōu dào le. Wǎn yī diǎn wǒ zài dǎ diàn huà gēn nǐ tǎo lùn.​
B: ►Hǎo de.
A: ►Zài jiàn.
B: ►Zài jiàn.
A: 喂。
B: 喂。 請問王先生在嗎?
A: 請等一下。
A: 喂。
B: 王先生你好。 我是大興公司的林大明。 你收到我寄給你的資料了嗎。
A: 林先生你好。 有 我收到了。 晚一點我再打電話跟你討論。
B: 好的。
A: 再見。
B: 再見。
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Your Citation
Su, Qiu Gui. "Using the Telephone in Mandarin." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/using-the-telephone-2279371. Su, Qiu Gui. (2023, April 5). Using the Telephone in Mandarin. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/using-the-telephone-2279371 Su, Qiu Gui. "Using the Telephone in Mandarin." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/using-the-telephone-2279371 (accessed March 28, 2024).