Dialogue substitution exercise using 得 (must) and 了。

[xiexieniii]

Does this make sense?

A: 我今天不能早一点儿去你的家了。

B: 你怎么了？

A: 我的车坏了，不能走了。

B: 你得去汽车技工看看。

A: 我去了。他说：你得买别的汽车。

B: 你打车吧，我告诉大家你点儿晚了。

I want to put "that sucks" in the last response, too.

("那啜了"...eheheh.)

The original dialogue was this:

A: 我今天不能上班了。

B: 你怎么了？

A: 我有点儿发烧。

B: 你得去医院看看。

A: 我去了，医生说我得多和水，多休息。

B: 你休息把，我告诉老板你病了。

Edited June 30, 2009 at 10:45 AM by xiexieniii

[muyongshi]

For the most part it's fine and you have the usages of 得 down pretty well. 了 like everyone else that learns Chinese, isn't being used in all the right ways but you'll get the feel for it.

A: 我今天不能早一点儿去你的家了。

This sentence is wrong. Not sure what you are trying to say but it doesn't work. Some alternatives might be 我今天不能按时到你家。我今天可能要迟到。我今天不能及时到你家。

我告诉大家你点儿晚了。

You're missing a verb. I think you were trying to say 你有点儿晚了 but that doesn't work here, so it should be 你要晚一点 or 你会晚一点 something like that.

A: 我的车坏了，不能走了。

In this sentence it sounds better to drop the second 了。 It may even sound a lot better to say 我暂时不能走，or 我暂时走不了

[xiexieniii]

The teacher told us we had to use this structure..."不能___了." Which I guess meant "Today I can no longer [do something] anymore." In the book it said, "我今天不能上班了" -- today I can no longer come to work. So I was trying to say, "Today I can no longer go to your house (at the time you were expecting me)."

In "我告诉大家你点儿晚了" I wanted to say, I will tell everyone you will be a little late, because in the textbook it is "你休息吧。我告诉老板你病了。“

[muyongshi]

Well if thats the case then you are still going to need to change what you say just to make it work for those requirements.

我今天不能来了。

and

我告诉大家你有事了。

[muyongshi]

Ok I re-looked at what you are trying to express

Today I can no longer go to your house (at the time you were expecting me).

And you could say: 我今天不能按时去你家了. Which is correct but in my opinion the 了 sounds a bit funny.

I will tell everyone you will be a little late

我告诉大家你会晚一点了. Once again the 了 is correct but to my ears sounds a bit funny to say it this way.

[xiexieniii]

"我今天不能按时去你家了"

What about...“今天我不能去你家了”？

Our teacher said “我不能上课了” is a correct substitution. Is there a reason why "上课" sounds better in-between "不能...了" than “按时去你家” ? Is it because 上课 is shorter?

[muyongshi]

I think it's because it's a change of circumstances whereas the other one isn't so much a "change" as an adjustment. Basically the more general it is the more obvious the usage will be. Like I was going to go vs I can't go. Not I'm coming on time, I'm coming late.

[xiexieniii]

What if I took out "we're coming late" and changed the situation to be: "我告诉大家你不来了“ -- we can't come at all. Would that sound better?

[muyongshi]

Yeah that would sound more natural to me.

[xiexieniii]

Thanks man, you rock.

[stonelee]

Does this make sense?

A: 我今天不能早一点儿去你的家了。

B: 你怎么了？

A: 我的车坏了，不能走了。

B: 你得去汽车技工看看。

A: 我去了。他说：你得买别的汽车。

B: 你打车吧，我告诉大家你点儿晚了。

A: 我今天不能早一点儿去你家了。

B: 你怎么了？

A: 我的车坏了，走不了了。

B: 你得去找汽车技工看看。

A: 我去了。他说：你得买辆新车了。

B: 你打车吧，我告诉大家你要晚点到了。