My next pitiful attempt at Chinese

[xuechengfeng]

Attempting to summarize a dialogue out of DeFrancis.

第二十開始得時候﹐白文山給高家打電話。高太太听電話以後﹐文山跟美英要說。他們兩個人都談一談。美英告訴文山她考完了。她覺得考試﹐考得不好。數學﹐中文﹐語言學﹐都糟糕極了﹐可是英文不錯了。然後文山告訴美英他下星期跟他父母想到日本去放假的旅行。他父母想在那兒住兩個月﹐可是文山只想在那兒住一個月﹐所以他不高興。而後﹐他們討論一塊兒去吃飯和看電影。他們下決心下星期三的時間有最好。然後文山告訴美英他對中國飯和外國飯有興趣。他們決定到萬年飯館去吃北方菜。它在書店東邊兒。晚飯以後﹐他們也想到中國電影院去看一部歷史電影。歷史電影﹐他們都喜歡。文山聽說那部片子很多人看﹐所以他們提前必得買票。先美英對文山說﹕“星期三晚上六點鐘我到府上去接你﹐”然後他們都走。

[xuechengfeng]

請你們幫助我﹗﹗

[roddy]

Looks like someone's homework is late . . .

Roddy

[xuechengfeng]

LOL, actually school doesn't start until September 22nd for us. I've been at work with time to kill, and I've been trying to do my future assignments in advanced, without looking at the book for help and testing my character knowledge.

[skylee]

Consider the blue ones -

第二十開始得時候 (什麼意思???)﹐白文山打電話到高家。高太太接了電話以後﹐便喚美英來聽。他們兩個開始聊天。美英告訴文山她考完試了，但她覺得考得不好。數學、中文、語言學都考得糟糕極了﹐只有英文還不錯。然後文山告訴美英他想下星期放假跟他父母到日本旅行。他父母想在那兒住兩個月﹐可是文山只想在那兒住一個月﹐所以他很不/有點不/不太高興。然後﹐他們討論要一塊兒去吃飯和看電影。他們決定最好下星期三去。然後文山告訴美英他中餐和西餐都喜歡。他們最後決定到萬年飯館去吃北方菜。那飯館在書店的東邊。晚飯以後﹐他們想到中國電影院去看一部歷史電影。他們兩人都喜歡歷史電影。文山聽說那部片子很多人看﹐所以他們得提前買票。美英對文山說﹕“星期三晚上六點鐘我到你家去接你。”(美英 is a girl's name. A girl offers to pick up a boy is definitely a good trend. 府上 is only used on formal occasions.)

(PS - 好像有點進步，字/詞的次序好了一點。)

[Guest Yau]

第二十開始得時候 (什麼意思???)﹐白文山打電話到高家。高太太接了電話以後﹐便喚美英來聽。

I guess 第二十開始 means "At the beginning of 20th" ?

〔某某月〕20日，白文山打電話到高家找美英，兩人聊了起來。美英說她考完試了，考得很糟，數學、中文、語言學都慘不忍睹，只有英文還不錯。

[xuechengfeng]

第二十開始得時候

When I said this, I was "trying" to say "When the 20th lesson begins"

crap, I supposed a 課 would have helped

[Jose]

skylee,

I don't understand your correction of xuechengfeng's sentence "白文山給高家打電話", which you have rewritten as "白文山打電話到高家".

I think I always say "給某人打電話". I'd appreciate it if you could explain if this construction is wrong, or why "打電話到某人" is to be preferred in this case.

[skylee]

I think I always say "給某人打電話". I'd appreciate it if you could explain if this construction is wrong, or why "打電話到某人" is to be preferred in this case.

I said "consider the blue ones", because sometimes there are more than one way to say one thing. And I think 高家 is not 某人, but 某地. I don't think I could explain if your preferred construction is wrong, because I have not really studied Chinese grammar. Thanks for your attention.

[in_lab]

Jose, although my textbooks and dictionary all have 給某人打電話, no one in Taiwan, at least, seems to have heard that expression. They say da dianhua gei mouge ren.

[Quest]

sov & svo

[Jose]

Strange. I always say the gei bit in front. For example, I would say 我明天給你打電話 rather than 我明天打電話給你 or 我明天打電話到你.

I am curious about this. Can any native speaker tell us whether the three above sentences are acceptable? Which one is more common?

[in_lab]

The orginal correction was 打電話到高家. It uses 到 for 家. If you're calling ni3, then use gei3 instead of dao4. In Taiwan, 我明天給你打電話 is not a good sentence.

[BeijingSlacker]

Strange. I always say the gei bit in front. For example, I would say 我明天給你打電話 rather than 我明天打電話給你 or 我明天打電話到你.

I am curious about this. Can any native speaker tell us whether the three above sentences are acceptable? Which one is more common?

The first two are perfectly fine. The last one isn't correct.

In Taiwan, 我明天給你打電話 is not a good sentence.

just curious about the reason. (The sentence is used in Beijing all the time.)

[in_lab]

I'm curious too. But I haven't had much success getting answers to questions like "why is this wrong?" Because most Chinese have not studied Chinese grammar, the answer is usually "tingqilai guai guai de" or "meiyou weishenme."

[skylee]

我打電話給你。(O)

我給你打電話。(O)

我打電話到你。(X)

我打電話到你家/公司/單位/美國/北京。(O)

我打電話到你家/公司/單位/美國/北京找你。(O)

[Lu]

I was told that 我給你打電話 is Mainland/Northern Mandarin, while Taiwanese and Cantonese say 我打電話給你. Which fits: on the mainland I always heard the first, but Taiwanese, friends who have studied on Taiwan and Cantonese huaqiao said the second.

[skylee]

In Cantonese -

我打電話畀你。

我打電話去你屋企/公司/單位/美國/北京。

[Lboo]

In Cantonese -

我打電話畀你。

我打電話去你屋企/公司/單位/美國/北京。

How do you pronounce these in Cantonese?

畀 = bei?

屋企 = oakkae?

[Claw]

How do you pronounce these in Cantonese?

畀 = bei?

屋企 = oakkae?

Yes... in Yale and LSHK Jyutping romanization they would be bei2 and uk1kei5, respectively.