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.
Table of Contents
Dialogue
[Receptionist] Good morning, Best Doctor’s clinic.
zǎoshang hǎo, zhèlǐ shì zuì hǎo yīshēng zhěnsuǒ.
[Patient] Good morning, I’d like to make an appointment to see the doctor
zǎoshang hǎo, wǒ yào yùyuē qù kàn yīshēng.
What time would you like to see the doctor?
nín xiǎng jǐ diǎn jiàn yīshēng?
Would tomorrow afternoon at 2pm be okay?
míngtiān xiàwǔ liǎng diǎn hǎo ma?
Wait a moment, I’ll check .
shāo děng, wǒ chá chákàn.
I’m sorry, there are no appointments before 3pm
duìbùqǐ, sān diǎn yǐqián yīshēng méiyǒu kòng.
We could make an arrangement (the appointment) at 4 o’clock.
wǒmen kěyǐ ānpái zài sì diǎn zhōng.
That’s fine. Thank you.
hǎo de. xièxiè.
Please give me your name and telephone number.
qǐng gàosù wǒ nín de xìngmíng hé diànhuà hàomǎ.
This is Peipei Zhang, my number is 12345678.
zhè shì zhāngpéipéi, wǒ de hàomǎ shì yī – ‘èr – sān – sì – wǔ – liù – qī – bā.
Ok, Your appointment is with a doctor Wang.
hǎole, nǐ yùyuē de shì wáng yīshēng.
Thank you very much. Good bye.
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
早 上 好 ， 这 里 是 最 好 医 生 诊 所 。
| zǎoshang hǎo | zhèlǐ | shì | zuìhǎo | yīshēng | zhěnsuǒ |
| good morning | here (this) | is | best (very good) | doctor | clinic |
The important takeaways from this dialogue:
-
早 上 好 (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. -
这 里 (zhèlǐ)，literally “this + inside”, means here. An alternative example of this is “he isn’t here”他 不 在 这 里 (tā bùzài zhèlǐ). -
最 好 (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
早 上 好 ， 我 要 预 约 去 看 医 生 。
| zǎoshang hǎo | wǒ | yào | yùyuē | qù kàn | yīshēng |
| good morning | I | want | appointment | go and see | doctor |
The main point of interest are the words
-
预 约 (yùyuē) is one way of saying “appointment” in Chinese. Another common way of saying this is约 会 (yuēhuì), -
去 看 (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”去 看 电 影 (qù kàn diànyǐng), where电 影 (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？
您 想 几 点 见 医 生 ？
| nín | xiǎng | jǐ diǎn | jiàn | yīshēng |
| you (polite) | want | what time | see/meet | doctor |
Important points from this sentence:
-
您 (nín) is a polite way of saying “you” 你 (nǐ) -
想 (xiǎng) means “to want”, however we could have substituted要 or想 要 (xiǎng yào) here, both of which would have given similar meaning of “want” or “need” -
见 (jiàn) means “to see”, although we could have also used the word看 (kàn), which would give the same meaning.
Would tomorrow afternoon at 2pm be okay?
明 天 下 午 2 点 好 吗 ？
| 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
2 点 (diǎn zhōng) or2 点 钟 (diǎn zhōng) both are fine. -
下 午 (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
下 午 ( x i à w ǔ ) is上 午 (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:-
上 (shàng) means “before”, as in “before noon”上 午 (shàngwǔ). -
下 (xià) means “after” as in “after noon”下 午 (xiàwǔ).
-
Wait a moment, I’ll check
稍 等 ， 我 查 查 看 。
| shāo děng | wǒ | chá chákàn |
| wait a moment | I’ll | check |
This is a short sentence which contains some interesting phrases:
-
稍 等 (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:-
等 一 下 (děng yīxià) “wait a moment”, literally “wait + a moment -
等 等 (děng děng) “hold on”, literally “wait + wait”
-
-
查 查 看 (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:-
看 看 (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）
读 不 起 ， 3 点 以 前 医 生 没 有 空 。
| |
|
||||
| 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
-
读 不 起 (duìbùqǐ) is a set phrase meaning “sorry” or “apologies”. Alternatives are抱 歉 (bàoqiàn) “sorry”
-
3 点 (sān diǎn) could have been written as3 点 钟 (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
3 点 以 前 (sān diǎn yǐqián), where以 前 (yǐqián) means “before”. If the speaker had wanted to say “there are no appointments AFTER 3pm”, the sentence would be3 点 以 后 医 生 没 有 空 (sān diǎn yǐhòu yīshēng méiyǒu kòng), where以 后 (yǐhòu) means “after” -
空 (kòn) means “free” or “free time”
We could make an the appointment for 4 o’clock
我 们 可 以 安 排 在 4 点 钟 。
| wǒmen | kěyǐ | ānpái | zài | sì diǎn |
| we | can | arrange | at | 4 o’clock |
This sentence starts off with
That’s fine. Thank you.
好 的 。 谢 谢 。
| hǎo de | xièxiè |
| good | thank you |
Thiis should need no real explanation, except that you should note that
Please give me your name and telephone number
请 告 诉 我 您 的 姓 名 和 电 话 号 码 。
| qǐng | gàosù | wǒ | nín de | xìngmíng | hé | diànhuà hàomǎ |
| please | tell | me | your | full name | and | telephone number |
Some notable vocabulary here:
-
请 (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” -
告 诉 (gàosù) means “tell“; the speaker could have alternatively said给 (gěi) -
姓 名 (xìngmíng) specifically means “full name”, whereas if they’d just said名 字 (míng zì) can be interpreted as simply “name” or “first name” -
电 话 号 码 (diànhuà hàomǎ) means “telephone number”, however the speaker could have said手 机 号 码 (shǒujī hàomǎ) “mobile phone number”. Note that号 码 (hàomǎ) means “number”.
This is Peipei Zhang, my number is 12345678.
这 是 张 培 培 , 我 的 号 码 是 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 。
| 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
号 码 (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.
好 了 ， 你 预 约 的 是 王 医 生 。
| hǎole | nǐ | 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.
谢 谢 ， 再 见 。
| xièxiè | zàijiàn |
| thank you | good bye |
This is an easy one. The called could have said
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.