Sample dialogue for making an appointment in Chinese

In this post I’ll provide you with a sample dialogue of vocabulary for making an appointment in Chinese.

Before you start be sure to check out my post on how to ask for an appointment in Chinese.

Dialogue

[Receptionist] Good morning, Best Doctor’s clinic.
zǎoshanghǎo,zhèshìzuìhǎoshēngzhěnsuǒ.
zǎoshang hǎo, zhèlǐ shì zuì hǎo yīshēng zhěnsuǒ.


[Patient] Good morning, I’d like to make an appointment to see the doctor
zǎoshanghǎo,yàoyuēkànshēng.
zǎoshang hǎo, wǒ yào yùyuē qù kàn yīshēng.


What time would you like to see the doctor?
nínxiǎngdiǎnjiànshēng?
nín xiǎng jǐ diǎn jiàn yīshēng?


Would tomorrow afternoon at 2pm be okay?
míngtiānxià22diǎnhǎoma?
míngtiān xiàwǔ liǎng diǎn hǎo ma?


Wait a moment, I’ll check .
shāoděng,cháchákàn.
shāo děng, wǒ chá chákàn.

I’m sorry, there are no appointments before 3pm
duìbu,33diǎnqiánshēngméiyǒukōng.
duìbùqǐ, sān diǎn yǐqián yīshēng méiyǒu kòng.

We could make an arrangement (the appointment) at 4 o’clock.
menānpáizài44diǎnzhōng.
wǒmen kěyǐ ānpái zài sì diǎn zhōng.


That’s fine. Thank you.
hǎode.xièxie.
hǎo de. xièxiè.


Please give me your name and telephone number.
qǐnggàoníndexìngmíngdiànhuàhào.
qǐng gàosù wǒ nín de xìngmíng hé diànhuà hàomǎ.


This is Peipei Zhang, my number is 12345678.
zhèshìzhāngpéipéi,,dehàoshì1122334455667788.
zhè shì zhāngpéipéi, wǒ de hàomǎ shì yī – ‘èr – sān – sì – wǔ – liù – qī – bā.


Ok, Your appointment is with a doctor Wang.
hǎole,yuēdeshìwángshēng.
hǎole, nǐ yùyuē de shì wáng yīshēng.


Thank you very much. Good bye.
xièxie,zàijiàn.
xièxiè, zàijiàn.

Dialogue breakdown

Here is a break down of each sentence in the dialogue. In some cases I have grouped characters that should be remembered together rather than in isolation.


Good Morning, This is Best Doctor’s Clinic
zǎoshanghǎo,zhèshìzuìhǎoshēngzhěnsuǒ.

zǎoshanghǎo zhè shì zuìhǎo shēng zhěnsuǒ
zǎoshang hǎo zhèlǐ shì zuìhǎo yīshēng zhěnsuǒ
good morning here (this) is best (very good) doctor clinic

The important takeaways from this dialogue:

  • zǎoshanghǎo (zǎoshang hǎo) is a common way of saying good morning and should be remembered as a set phrase. I have a post on the best ways to say hello in Chinese, which provides alternative greetings you can substitute into this sentence.
  • zhè (zhèlǐ),literally “this + inside”, means here. An alternative example of this is “he isn’t here” zàizhè (tā bùzài zhèlǐ).
  • zuìhǎo (zuìhǎo), means “most+ best”, and is just a silly name we are giving the Doctor’s clinic

I’d like to make an appointment to see the doctor
zǎoshanghǎo,yàoyuēkànshēng.

zǎoshanghǎo yào yuē kàn shēng
zǎoshang hǎo yào yùyuē qù kàn yīshēng
good morning I want appointment go and see doctor

The main point of interest are the words yuē (yùyuē) and kàn ( qù kàn)

  • yuē (yùyuē) is one way of saying “appointment” in Chinese. Another common way of saying this is yuēhuì (yuēhuì),
  • kàn (qù kàn) is two words meaning go + see, however I’ve grouped them together for clarity. You could use this to say “go and see a movie” kàndiànyǐng (qù kàn diànyǐng), where diànyǐng (diànyǐng) means “movie”.

I have an in depth post called n how to ask for an appointment in Chinese where I go into great detail about how to modify this phrase to ask for appointment times or dates, please check it out.


What time would you like to see the doctor?
nínxiǎngdiǎnjiànshēng?

nín xiǎng diǎn jiàn shēng
nín xiǎng jǐ diǎn jiàn yīshēng
you (polite) want what time see/meet doctor

Important points from this sentence:

  • nín (nín) is a polite way of saying “you” 你 (nǐ)
  • xiǎng (xiǎng) means “to want”, however we could have substituted yào or xiǎngyào (xiǎng yào) here, both of which would have given similar meaning of “want” or “need”
  • jiàn (jiàn) means “to see”, although we could have also used the word kàn (kàn), which would give the same meaning.

Would tomorrow afternoon at 2pm be okay?
míngtiānxià22diǎnhǎoma?

míngtiān xià 22diǎn hǎo ma
míngtiān xiàwǔ liǎng diǎn hǎo ma
tomorrow afternoon two o’clock good/okay <yes/no question indicator>

This sentence incorporates both dates and times, be sure to check out my posts on both how to say dates in Chinese and how to tell the time in Chinese for clarity on these. Also note:

  • In Chinese you can Arabic numerals just as you do in English i.e. 1,2,3…
  • The time can be written as 22diǎn (diǎn zhōng) or 22diǎnzhōng (diǎn zhōng) both are fine.
  • xià (xiàwǔ) is the equivalent of “afternoon” or saying “PM”(Post Meridiem), however unlike English where you’d write “2 PM”, in Chinese you are essentially saying “PM 2”
  • The opposite of xià ((xxiiààwwǔǔ)) is shàng (shàngwǔ) and means “morning” or “AM”; remember which means morning and which means afternoon can be difficult, I’d recommend thinking of it as committing to memory that:
    • shàng (shàng) means “before”, as in “before noon” shàng (shàngwǔ).
    • xià (xià) means “after” as in “after noon” xià (xiàwǔ).

Wait a moment, I’ll check
shāoděng,cháchákàn.

shāoděng cháchákàn
shāo děng chá chákàn
wait a moment I’ll check

This is a short sentence which contains some interesting phrases:

  • shāoděng (shāo děng) means “wait a moment” and literally broken down means “little + wait”, however it should be taken as a set phrase. The speaker could have alternatively said:
    • děngxià (děng yīxià) “wait a moment”, literally “wait + a moment
    • děngděng (děng děng) “hold on”, literally “wait + wait”
  • cháchákàn (chá chákàn) is a set phrase meaning “to check”, as in the speaker will check; literally this means “check + check + look”. Alternatives to this phrase are:
    • kànkan (kàn kàn), literally “look + look” but is another set phrase


I’m sorry, there are no appointments before 3pm(读不起,3点以前医生没有空)
,33diǎnqiánshēngméiyǒukōng .

duìbu 33diǎn qián shēng méiyǒu kōng
duìbùqǐ sān diǎn yǐqián yīshēng méiyǒu kòng
I’m sorry 3pm before doctor doesn’t have free time

This phrase is straight forward, however you should note

  • (duìbùqǐ) is a set phrase meaning “sorry” or “apologies”. Alternatives are
    • bàoqiàn (bàoqiàn) “sorry”
  • 33diǎn (sān diǎn) could have been written as 33diǎnzhōng (3 diǎn zhōng), both of which mean “3 o’clock’
  • The word order of saying “before 3 o’clock” is reversed in Chinese, with the order instead being “3 o’clock before”, that is 33diǎnqián (sān diǎn yǐqián), where qián (yǐqián) means “before”. If the speaker had wanted to say “there are no appointments AFTER 3pm”, the sentence would be 33diǎnhòushēngméiyǒukōng (sān diǎn yǐhòu yīshēng méiyǒu kòng), where hòu (yǐhòu) means “after”
  • kōng (kòn) means “free” or “free time”

We could make an the appointment for 4 o’clock
menānpáizài44diǎnzhōng.

men ānpái zài 44diǎnzhōng
wǒmen kěyǐ ānpái zài sì diǎn
we can arrange at 4 o’clock

This sentence starts off with men (wǒmen kěyǐ), “we can / are able to”. Next we see a different word introduced, instead of “appointment” yuē (yùyuē), the speaker uses the word ānpái (ānpái), which means “to arrange”, the complete used is “arrange at 4 o’clock” ānpáizài44diǎnzhōng (ānpái zài sì diǎn). The speaker could have instead said yuēzài44diǎn (yùyuē zài sì diǎn), which would have conveyed a similar meaning.


That’s fine. Thank you.
hǎode.xièxie.

hǎode xièxie
hǎo de xièxiè
good thank you

Thiis should need no real explanation, except that you should note that hǎode (hǎo de) is a set phrase; here de (de) is a indicated possession, so it is changing “good” into “that’s good”, specifically “what you just said is good”


Please give me your name and telephone number
qǐnggàoníndexìngmíngdiànhuàhào.

qǐng gào nínde xìngmíng diànhuàhào
qǐng gàosù nín de xìngmíng diànhuà hàomǎ
please tell me your full name and telephone number

Some notable vocabulary here:

  • qǐng (qǐng) means “please”; had the speaker not said this it would be somewhat abrupt to simply say “tell me your full name and telephone number”
  • gào (gàosù) means “tell“; the speaker could have alternatively said gěi (gěi)
  • xìngmíng (xìngmíng) specifically means “full name”, whereas if they’d just said míngzi (míng zì) can be interpreted as simply “name” or “first name”
  • diànhuàhào (diànhuà hàomǎ) means “telephone number”, however the speaker could have said shǒuhào (shǒujī hàomǎ) “mobile phone number”. Note that hào (hàomǎ) means “number”.

This is Peipei Zhang, my number is 12345678.
zhèshìzhāngpéipéi,,dehàoshì1122334455667788.

zhè shì zhāngpéipéi de hào shì 1122334455667788
zhè shì zhāngpéipéi wǒ de hàomǎ shì yī – ‘èr – sān – sì – wǔ – liù – qī – bā
this is Peipei Zhang my number is 12345678

Some notes on this sentence:

  • In Chinese, the surname goes before given names and given names are joined together into a single word, even though they are separate characters. For more information see my post on how to address people in Chinese.
  • The speaker simply said hào (hàomǎ), meaning “number”; this is fine as you know by the context they are referring to their phone number. Keep in mind that Chinese is a highly contextual language, so words are often dropped if it can be understood what is being referred to by the context of the conversation.
  • Obviously “12345678” isn’t a real phone number, but be sure to check out my post on how to count in Chinese.

Your appointment is with a doctor Wang.
hǎole,yuēdeshìwángshēng.

hǎole yuē de shì wángshēng
hǎole yùyuē de shì wáng yīshēng
okay your appointment <possession> is (with) Dr Wang

Note that the caller is told their doctor is “Doctor Wang”. In Chinese the surname comes before the title, so the equivalent in Wnglish would be “Wang Doctor” rather than “Doctor Wang”. Again please refer to my post on how to address people in Chinese.


Thank you very much. Good bye.
xièxie,zàijiàn.

xièxie zàijiàn
xièxiè zàijiàn
thank you good bye

This is an easy one. The called could have said míngtiānjiàn (míngtiān jiàn) meaning “see you tomorrow’, but unless you know the receptionist taking the call is always there and it’s not a big doctors office you probably should say this.

Conclusion

I hope this has given you some insights into a simple dialogue of booking an appointment. Feel free to leave comments and I’ll do my best to address them either directly or in a post.