Give you/me a phone call

[rcxAsh]

I was wondering if I heard and remember this correctly.. but let's say I wanted to say something like, "give me a phone call," would it be correct to say:

打電話給我

And to say that I'll call you,

我打電話給你

To say that I'll call you tomorrow,

我明天打電話給你

Are these correct? How would I say the opposite though? For example, how would I say, "I didn't call him"? Would it be even close to 我沒打電話給他 (some how, I don't think this is correct?)

Now, assuming that first my sentence was correct, are there any other similar cases when you would use this type of construction? But not necessarily relating to phone calls?

[Shadowdh]

I am not very good with all this but I think its more like...

我给你打电话 I will give you a call

你给我打电话 you give me a call

etc... not sure about other constructs at the moment... my head is about to hit the keyboard... bedtime... sorry...

[xiaojiang216]

我给你打电话，你给我打电话

我打电话给你，你打电话给我....都可以

...And to answer rcxAsh's question, you can say "我没(有)打电话给他". You could also say "我没(有)给他打电话". 都可以

[rcxAsh]

Thanks for the info, xiaojiang! So either order is correct. Are they also just as common? Or is there one that is used more often?

Also, is this type of construction used for other things? For example, if I wanted to say "I give you a hug," would it also be something like 我打抱給你 / 我給你打抱? Are there other times that "我打...給你" / "我給你打..." can be used?

Thanks again!

[davidw017]

"我打电话给你" is better translated as "I give a phone call to you", and "我给你打电话" as "I give you a phone call". "给你" is here like "to you" or "for you", and it can be put before or follow the verb-part "打电话", they're all okay, but it seems that "我给你打电话" is more formal.

[Lu]

"我打电话给你" is used in Taiwan, sometimes abbreviated to "我打给你". On the Mainland (or at least in Beijing), 我给你打电话 is common. But neither is really wrong.

[skylee]

For example, if I wanted to say "I give you a hug," would it also be something like 我打抱給你 / 我給你打抱?

No. It would be 我擁抱你.

打 is the verb for "making telephone call". The one example I can think of which uses this pattern (打...給) is 我打電報給你 (where 打 can be replaced by 發).

[Vitas]

"I was wondering if I heard and remember this correctly.. but let's say I wanted to say something like, "give me a phone call," would it be correct to say:

打電話給我

And to say that I'll call you,

我打電話給你

To say that I'll call you tomorrow,

我明天打電話給你

Are these correct? How would I say the opposite though? For example, how would I say, "I didn't call him"? Would it be even close to 我沒打電話給他 (some how, I don't think this is correct?)

Now, assuming that first my sentence was correct, are there any other similar cases when you would use this type of construction? But not necessarily relating to phone calls?"

rcxash, all of your sentences look perfect to me, and they are all commonly used in our daily conversations.

“Thanks for the info, xiaojiang! So either order is correct. Are they also just as common? Or is there one that is used more often?

Also, is this type of construction used for other things? For example, if I wanted to say "I give you a hug," would it also be something like 我打抱給你 / 我給你打抱? Are there other times that "我打...給你" / "我給你打..." can be used?”

I am afraid not. 我打...給你" / "我給你打

我打...給你 somewhat sounds like i'll give you a call/telegraph, depending on the missing part "..."

我給你打 is like i'll let you hit me...lol

if you try to say i'll give you a hug, it should be 我拥抱你/我抱（一）下你/我抱抱你（the 1st one sounds a bit literal,though)

well if you insist i give you a hug be translate word by word correctly in chinese, it should be 我给你（一）个拥抱

[rcxAsh]

Thanks for the correction! So if I understand this correctly, the 打 in this case is more exclusively used for phone calls/telegrams, etc.

When I looked up 打 in my dictionary, I notice that one of the meanings could be "to send" or "to issue." So this is why we use it for phone calls/telegrams, but not for a hug, correct? But then what about things like sending mail/email/SMS, etc?

我給你打 is like i'll let you hit me...lol

Haha, is this actually what it implies? So if I said to someone, 你給我打, I would be implying that I want to hit on them..? "Hit on" as in trying to pick up a date, or hit as in physically hit? Since 打 can mean to hit physically, right? (I recall my friend in highschool punching me while saying something like 我打你)

well if you insist i give you a hug be translate word by word correctly in chinese, it should be 我给你（一）个拥抱

But does the word-for-word translation sound natural? Or is it more natural to say 我擁抱你? Oh, while we're talking about 擁抱, is the correct measure word 個 as you wrote in your post?

Thanks again and sorry for the endless stream of questions

[Vitas]

"Haha, is this actually what it implies? So if I said to someone, 你給我打, I would be implying that I want to hit on them..? "Hit on" as in trying to pick up a date, or hit as in physically hit? Since 打 can mean to hit physically, right? (I recall my friend in highschool punching me while saying something like 我打你)"

Well rcxAsh, if you please , i have a question for you before answering yours .

How can i quote one's words? i just cannot figure out where the "quote" icon was, or is there any other manners that i can use to quote one's word as you did in your reply?

In chinese, 你给我打 is somewhat like expressing your desire to give the person you are talking to a physical hit.

however, 你给我打他 means you ask the person you're talking to punch someone else (heavily)

mind you, although 你给我打do make sense, it doesn't sound idiomatic. i think few people would actually ask for approval when he really feels the need of a fight. lol

"But does the word-for-word translation sound natural? Or is it more natural to say 我擁抱你? Oh, while we're talking about 擁抱, is the correct measure word 個 as you wrote in your post?

Thanks again and sorry for the endless stream of questions"

個here cannot not be used, unless you say in this way 我给你"个"拥抱

literally. 我给你个拥抱 我拥抱你/我抱（一）下你/我抱抱你 are all correct. but i think the 我抱（一）下你 and 我抱抱你 sound more natural and it is typically used in an intimate relationship.

there're also times when we try to sound funny so we speak in a formal and literal manner.(usually between good friends) so 我给你个拥抱 我拥抱你 are both ok although i don't hear them often enough in our daily conversations.

ps. i'm from the southern part of china. there might are some slight differences between cantoness and putonghua (also known as mandarin) no significant differences, though. we have learned mandarin since elementary school, so we can actually communicate effectively. we can communicate with people who speak putonghua effectively.

[Vitas]

"Haha, is this actually what it implies? So if I said to someone, 你給我打, I would be implying that I want to hit on them..? "Hit on" as in trying to pick up a date, or hit as in physically hit? Since 打 can mean to hit physically, right? (I recall my friend in highschool punching me while saying something like 我打你)"

Well rcxAsh, if you please , i have a question for you before answering yours .

How can i quote one's words? i just cannot figure out where the "quote" icon was, or is there any other manners that i can use to quote one's word as you did in your reply?

In chinese, 你给我打 is somewhat like expressing your desire to give the person you are talking to a physical hit.

however, 你给我打他 means you ask the person you're talking to punch someone else (heavily)

mind you, although 你给我打do make sense, it doesn't sound idiomatic. i think few people would actually ask for approval when he really feels the need of a fight. lol

"But does the word-for-word translation sound natural? Or is it more natural to say 我擁抱你? Oh, while we're talking about 擁抱, is the correct measure word 個 as you wrote in your post?

Thanks again and sorry for the endless stream of questions"

個here cannot not be used, unless you say in this way 我给你"个"拥抱

literally. 我给你个拥抱 我拥抱你/我抱（一）下你/我抱抱你 are all correct. but i think the 我抱（一）下你 and 我抱抱你 sound more natural and it is typically used in an intimate relationship.

there're also times when we try to sound funny so we speak in a formal and literal manner.(usually between good friends) so 我给你个拥抱 我拥抱你 are both ok although i don't hear them often enough in our daily conversations.

ps. i'm from the southern part of china. there might are some slight differences between cantoness and putonghua (also known as mandarin) no significant differences, though. we have learned mandarin since elementary school, so we can actually communicate effectively. we can communicate with people who speak putonghua effectively.

[rcxAsh]

Thanks so much for the explanations, Vitas! I hope I can remember them!

To answer your question about quoting someone, you can type

and [/quote ] around the text you want to quote (however, remove the space).

To put someone's name, I think you can use

[Vitas]

Thanks so much for the explanations, Vitas! I hope I can remember them!

To answer your question about quoting someone, you can type

and [/quote ] around the text you want to quote (however, remove the space).

To put someone's name, I think you can use

I am always glad to help chinese learners to develop their language skills

thank you for your help as well:)