How to ask for an appointment in Chinese

In this post I will provide you with vocabulary and phrases you need to ask for an appointment in Chinese.

When reading this guide be sure to refer to my other posts which are directly relevant:

• Sample dialogue for making an appointment in Chinese
• How to say hello in Chinese
• How to say goodbye in Chinese
• How to say dates in Chinese
• How to tell the time in Chinese

Let’s start with a simple request for an appointment, we will build on this as we progress through this post with requesting times and dates.

Asking for an appointment in Chinese

我wǒ想xiǎng预yù约yuē (wǒ xiǎng yùyuē) is the most simple way to say “I want to make an appointment’. Here is a word-for-word break down:

我	想	预约
wǒ	xiǎng	yùyuē
I	want	reservation

As you can see this is a very straight forward phrase. So what can you say after 我wǒ想xiǎng预yù约yuē / (wǒ xiǎng yùyuē)? Here are some examples:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I’d like an appointment to cut my hair	我wǒ想xiǎng预yù约yuē剪jiǎn发fā。.	wǒ xiǎng yùyuē jiǎn fǎ.
I’d like an appointment to see the doctor	我wǒ想xiǎng预yù约yuē医yī生shēng。.	wǒ xiǎng yùyuē yīshēng.
I’d like to make golf reservations.	我wǒ想xiǎng预yù约yuē高gāo尔'ěr夫fū球qiú。.	wǒ xiǎng yùyuē gāo’ěrfū qiú.

Essentially you can insert many things after 我wǒ想xiǎng预yù约yuē / (wǒ xiǎng yùyuē) to say who you want to make a reservation with.

You can substituted 要yào (yào) or (xiǎng yào) instead of 想xiǎng (xiǎng), the meaning is essentially the same, although 想xiǎng (xiǎng) carries the meaning of “would like” while 要yào (yào) means “want”:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I would like an appointment	我wǒ想xiǎng预yù约yuē	wǒ xiǎng yùyuē
I want an appointment	我wǒ要yào预yù约yuē	wǒ yào yùyuē
I would like an appointment	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē

I’ll use 要yào (yào), 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào) and 想xiǎng (xiǎng) interchangeably in this post, don’t be too concerned with the slight variation in meaning.

How to make an appointment “to see” someone in Chinese

我wǒ想xiǎng预yù约yuē去qù看kàn (wǒ xiǎng yùyuē qù kàn) is a slight modification of 我wǒ想xiǎng预yù约yuē (wǒ xiǎng yùyuē) in that we have added “go see” 去qù看kàn (qù kàn) to make it a little more complete.

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I’d like an appointment to see the dentist	我wǒ要yào预yù约yuē去qù看kàn牙yá医yī。.	wǒ yào yùyuē qù kàn yáyī.
I’d like an appointment to see the doctor	我wǒ要yào预yù约yuē去qù看kàn医yī生shēng。.	wǒ yào yùyuē qù kàn yīshēng.
I’d like an appointment to see the hair dresser	我wǒ要yào预yù约yuē去qù看kàn理lǐ发fà师shī。.	wǒ yào yùyuē qù kàn lǐfǎ shī.

How to say hello when asking for an appointment

When making an appointment, it is appropriate to start with something like “hello”, “good morning” or “may I ask”. Here are some examples

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
Hello, I’d like an appointment to see the dentist	ssttrroonngg>>你nǐ好hǎo//ssttrroonngg>>，,我wǒ要yào预yù约yuē去qù看kàn牙yá医yī。.	nǐ hǎo, wǒ yào yùyuē qù kàn yáyī.
Good morning, I’d like an appointment to see the doctor	ssttrroonngg>>早zǎo上shang好hǎo//ssttrroonngg>>，,我wǒ要yào预yù约yuē去qù看kàn医yī生shēng。.	zǎoshang hǎo, wǒ yào yùyuē qù kàn yīshēng.
Excuse me, I’d like an appointment to see the hair dresser	ssttrroonngg>>请qǐng问wèn//ssttrroonngg>>，,我wǒ要yào预yù约yuē去qù看kàn理lǐ发fà师shī。.	qǐngwèn, wǒ yào yùyuē qù kàn lǐfǎ shī.

Take a look at my post on how to say hello in Chinese for more examples of starting a conversation.

Requesting a day for an appointment

Making an appointment today or tomorrow

To make an appointment today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, you need to know how to say these words in Chinese:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
today	今jīn天tiān	jīntiān
tomorrow	明míng天tiān	míngtiān
the day after tomorrow	后hòu天tiān	hòutiān

To use the above when setting an appointment, you can simply add these to the end of the phase 我想要预约 (wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē)

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I would like an appointment for today	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuēssttrroonngg>>今jīn天tiān//ssttrroonngg>>	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē jīntiān
I would like an appointment for tomorrow	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuēssttrroonngg>>明míng天tiān//ssttrroonngg>>	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē míngtiān
I would like an appointment for the day after tomorrow	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuēssttrroonngg>>后hòu天tiān//ssttrroonngg>>	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē hòutiān

Making an appointment on a day of the week

To make an appointment on a given day of the week, you can reuse the phrase 我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē (wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē) and simply add the day of the week. First here are the days of the week in Chinese:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
Monday	星Xīng期qī一yī	xīngqí yī
Tuesday	星Xīng期qī二'èr	xīngqí’èr
Wednesday	星Xīng期qī三sān	xīngqísān
Thursday	星Xīng期qī四sì	xīngqísì
Friday	星Xīng期qī五wǔ	xīngqíwǔ
Saturday	星Xīng期qī六liù	xīngqíliù
Sunday	星Xīng期qī日rì / 星Xīng期qī天tiān	xīngqírì / xīngqítiān

You should note that Monday to Saturday are simply written as “Day 1” through to “Day 6” using the characters for one through to six. i.e.

Number in Numerals	English	Chinese	Pinyin
1	one	一yī	yī
2	two	二èr	èr
3	three	三sān	sān
4	four	四sì	sì
5	five	五wǔ	wǔ
6	six	六liù	liù

Now here are some example sentences using 我想要预约 (wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē) + this + <day of the week>:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I want to make an appointment for this Monday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī一yī	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqí yī
I want to make an appointment this Tuesday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī二'èr	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqí’èr
I want to make an appointment this Wednesday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī三sān	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqísān
I want to make an appointment this Thursday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī四sì	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqísì
I want to make an appointment for this Friday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī五wǔ	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqíwǔ
I want to make an appointment this Saturday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī六liù	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqíliù
I want to make an appointment this Sunday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī天tiān	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqítiān

As you can see 这zhè个ge星xīng期qī (zhè ge xīngqí ) has been added, here 这zhè个ge (zhè ge) means “this” and, as I’ve given above, each day of the week starts with 星期 (xīngqí)

Making an appointment on a day of next week

If today is say a Monday, you might want to book an appointment for Wednesday next week, that is not this Wednesday. To do this you simply replace 这zhè个ge (zhè ge) with 下xià个gè (xià gè), which means “next”. Here is a complete list of how to to book appointments for “next” week:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I want to make an appointment next Monday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星xīng期qī一yī	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqí yī
I want to make an appointment next Tuesday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星xīng期qī二èr	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqí’èr
I want to make an appointment next Wednesday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星xīng期qī三sān	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqísān
I want to make an appointment next Thursday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星xīng期qī四sì	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqísì
I want to make an appointment next Friday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星xīng期qī五wǔ	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqíwǔ
I want to make an appointment next Saturday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星Xīng期qī六liù	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqíliù
I want to make an appointment for the next Sunday.	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星xīng期qī日rì	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqírì

Making an appointment in the morning, afternoon or evening

To make an appointment for the morning, you will want to ask something like ” want an appointment for tomorrow morning” or perhaps “I’d like an appointment for Wednesday afternoon”, to do this you simply add the Chinese words for morning, afternoon of evening:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)	Time of day
early morning	早zǎo上shang	zǎoshang	dawn – approximately 9am
late morning	上shàng午wǔ	shàngwǔ	approximately 8am – noon
afternoon	下xià午wǔ	xiàwǔ	noon – dusk
evening	晚wǎn上shang	wǎnshàng	dusk – midnight

To use these phrases when setting an appointment, you can simply add them after the previous phrases, here are some examples:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I want to make an appointment next Wednesday morning	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星xīng期qī三sānssttrroonngg>>早zǎo上shang//ssttrroonngg>>	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqísān zǎoshang
I want to make an appointment for this Friday afternoon	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī五wǔssttrroonngg>>下xià午wǔ//ssttrroonngg>>	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqíwǔ xiàwǔ
I would like an appointment for tomorrow (late) morning	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē明míng天tiānssttrroonngg>>上shàng午wǔ//ssttrroonngg>>	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē míngtiān shàngwǔ
I would like an appointment for this (today) evening	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē今jīn天tiānssttrroonngg>>晚wǎn上shang//ssttrroonngg>>	wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē jīntiān wǎnshàng

Requesting an appointment time

If you want to make an appointment at a specific time in Chinese, you simply need to add the day and time at the end of the phrase we have used throughout this post i.e. 我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē (wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē) + day+ time. Before we dive into some examples, here are times of day in Chinese:

English	Chinese	Chinese (alternative)	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
one o’clock	11点diǎn钟zhōng	yīdiǎn zhōng
two o’clock	22点diǎn钟zhōng	èr diǎn zhōng
three o’clock	33点diǎn钟zhōng	sān diǎn zhōng
four o’clock	44点diǎn钟zhōng	sì diǎn zhōng
five o’clock	55点diǎn钟zhōng	wǔ diǎn zhōng
six o’clock	66点diǎn钟zhōng	liù diǎn zhōng
seven o’clock	77点diǎn钟zhōng	qī diǎn zhōng
eight o’clock	88点diǎn钟zhōng	bā diǎn zhōng
nine o’clock	99点diǎn钟zhōng	jiǔ diǎn zhōng
ten o’clock	1100点diǎn钟zhōng	shí diǎn zhōng
eleven o’clock	1111点diǎn钟zhōng	shíyī diǎn zhōng
twelve o’clock	1122点diǎn钟zhōng	shí’èr diǎn zhōng

When asking for a time, we simply say the day, followed by the time, here are some examples:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I would like to make an appointment for 9 o’lock today.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē今jīn天tiān99点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē jīntiān jiǔ diǎn zhōng
I would like to make an appointment for 10 o’clock tomorrow.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē明míng天tiān1100点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē míngtiān shí diǎn zhōng
I would like to make an appointment for 11 o’lock the day after tomorrow.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē后hòu天tiān1111点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē hòutiān shíyī diǎn zhōng
I would like to make an appointment for 12 o’clock this Monday.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī一yī1122点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqí yī shí’èr diǎn zhōng
I would like to make an appointment for 1 o’clock next Tuesday.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星xīng期qī二èr11点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqí’èr yī diǎn zhōng

You may need to specify if the time you are giving is AM or PM, as while it may not always be obvious. Here we simply use the Chinese equivalent of AM and PM:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
AM	上shàng午wǔ	shàngwǔ
PM	下xià午wǔ	xiàwǔ

In Chinese “AM” 上午 (shàngwǔ) or “PM” 下午 (xiàwǔ) are placed before the time. Here are some examples

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
11am	ssttrroonngg>>上shàng午wǔ//ssttrroonngg>>1111点diǎn钟zhōng	shàngwǔ shíyī diǎn zhōng
1pm	ssttrroonngg>>下xià午wǔ//ssttrroonngg>>11点diǎn钟zhōng	xiàwǔ yīdiǎn zhōng

Finally, let’s update our phrases by adding “AM” 上shàng午wǔ (shàngwǔ) or “PM” 下xià午wǔ (xiàwǔ):

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I would like to make an appointment for 9am today.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē今jīn天tiān上shàng午wǔ99点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē jīntiān shàngwǔ jiǔ diǎn zhōng
I would like to make an appointment for 10am tomorrow.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē明míng天tiān上shàng午wǔ1100点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē míngtiān shàngwǔ shí diǎn zhōng
I would like to make an appointment for 11am the day after tomorrow.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē后hòu天tiān上shàng午wǔ1111点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē hòutiān shàngwǔ shíyī diǎn zhōng
I would like to make an appointment for 12 noon this Monday.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē这zhè个ge星Xīng期qī一yī中zhōng午wǔ1122点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē zhège xīngqí yī zhōngwǔ shí’èr diǎn zhōng
I would like to make an appointment for 1pm next Tuesday.	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē下xià个gè星xīng期qī二èr下xià午wǔ11点diǎn钟zhōng	xiǎng yào yùyuē xià gè xīngqí’èr xiàwǔ yī diǎn zhōng

A few final notes on times:

• 12pm noon is normally written as “12 noon” 中zhōng午wǔ1122 ( zhōngwǔ shí’èr), instead of “12pm” 下xià午wǔ1122 ( xiàwǔ shí’èr)
• You will see times written with just 点diǎn (diǎn) rather than 点diǎn钟zhōng (diǎn zhōng), this is perfectly acceptble.

Requesting an appointment date

If you want to make an appointment on a given date in Chinese, you can simply append this to our standing phrase i.e. 我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē (wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē) + date

Dates in Chinese are written the month and day of month number, that is month number + 月 ( yuè) + day + 日 (rì), where ：

• 月 ( yuè) is the Chinese word for month
• 日 (rì) is the Chinese word for day

Here are some example dates, if you want more please check out my post on How to say dates in Chinese:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
June 4th	66月yuè44日rì	liù yuè sì rì
August 2nd	88月yuè22日rì	bā yuè èr rì
February 3rd	22月yuè33日rì	èr yuè sān rì

Finally, as I’ve already said, you simply add the date after the request for an appointment 我wǒ想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuē (wǒ xiǎng yào yùyuē) + date:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
Want to make an appointment on June 4th	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuēssttrroonngg>>66月yuè44日rì//ssttrroonngg>>	xiǎng yào yùyuē 6 yuè 4 rì
Want to make an appointment on August 2nd	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuēssttrroonngg>>88月yuè22日rì//ssttrroonngg>>	xiǎng yào yùyuē 8 yuè 2 rì
Want to make an appointment on February 3rd	想xiǎng要yào预yù约yuēssttrroonngg>>22月yuè33日rì//ssttrroonngg>>	xiǎng yào yùyuē 2 yuè 3 rì

Suggesting an appropriate appointment time or date

Here are some examples of how to ask the other person to suggest an appropriate appointment time. Note the use of the word for “time” in Chinese, 时shí间jiān (shíjiān):

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
Can you suggest some convenient time?	您nín能néng提tí供gōng方fāng便biàn的dessttrroonngg>>时shí间jiān//ssttrroonngg>>吗ma？?	nín néng tígōng fāngbiàn de shíjiān ma?
Can you arrange a suitable time?	你nǐ能néng安ān排pái一yī个gè合hé适shì的dessttrroonngg>>时shí间jiān//ssttrroonngg>>	Nǐ néng ānpái yīgè héshì de shíjiān
Please let me know the best time.	请qǐng让ràng我wǒ知zhī道dào最zuì好hǎo的dessttrroonngg>>时shí间jiān//ssttrroonngg>>	qǐng ràng wǒ zhīdào zuì hǎo de shíjiān

If you’d rather ask for an appropriate date, you can substitute the word “date” 日期 (rìqí) instead:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
Can you suggest some convenient dates?	您nín能néng提tí供gōng方fāng便biàn的dessttrroonngg>>日rì期qī//ssttrroonngg>>吗ma？?	nín néng tígōng fāngbiàn de rìqí ma?
Can you arrange a suitable date?	你nǐ能néng安ān排pái一yī个gè合hé适shì的dessttrroonngg>>日rì期qī//ssttrroonngg>>？?	nǐ néng ānpái yīgè héshì de rìqí
Please let me know the best date.	请qǐng让ràng我wǒ知zhī道dào最zuì好hǎo的dessttrroonngg>>日rì期qī//ssttrroonngg>>？?	qǐng ràng wǒ zhīdào zuì hǎo de rìqí

Here is a summary of the vocabulary:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
offer	提tí供gōng	tígōng
able to	能néng	néng
convenient	方fāng便biàn	fāngbiàn
suitable	合hé适shì	héshì
know	知zhī道dào	zhīdào
allow / let me	让ràng	ràng
best	最zuì好hǎo	zuì hǎo
time	时shí间jiān	shíjiān
date	日rì期qī	rìqí

Cancelling and rescheduling appointments in Chinese

Finally, if you want to cancel or reschedule an appointment in Chinese, these are some useful phrases.

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I won’t be able to keep this afternoon’s appointment	今jīn天tiān下xià午wǔ我wǒ不bù能néng赴fù约yuē了le。.	jīntiān xiàwǔ wǒ bùnéng fùyuēle
I won’t be able to keep this afternoon’s appointment	明míng天tiān上shàng午wǔ我wǒ不bù能néng赴fù约yuē了le。.	míngtiān shàngwǔ wǒ bùnéng fùyuēle
I need to cancel the appointment	我wǒ需xū要yào取qǔ消xiāo预yù约yuē。.	wǒ xūyào qǔxiāo yùyuē
I’ve got a very tight schedule tomorrow..	我wǒ明míng天tiān的de日rì程chéng安ān排pái得de很hěn紧jǐn。.	wǒ míngtiān de rìchéng ānpái dé hěn jǐn.
I might not be able to make it.	我wǒ很hěn难nán再zài重chóng新xīn安ān排pái。.	wǒ hěn nán zài chóngxīn ānpái.
I need to reschedule the appointment.	我wǒ需xū要yào重chóng新xīn安ān排pái预yù约yuē。.	wǒ xūyào chóngxīn ānpái yùyuē

Conclusion

Be sure to check out my post on where I cover a sample dialogue for making an appointment in Chinese.