Languages › Mandarin Using the Telephone in Mandarin Share Flipboard Email Print Lucas Schifres / Getty Images Mandarin Vocabulary Mandarin History and Culture Pronunciation Understanding Chinese Characters By Qiu Gui Su Qiu Gui Su Chinese Language Expert Qiu Gui Su is a native Mandarin speaker who has taught Mandarin Chinese for over 20 years. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on March 04, 2019 The conventions for making and answering phone calls in Mandarin Chinese are similar to English. The main difference is that calls are usually answered with ►wèi, which is a way of saying “hello” used only on the phone. Knowledge of Mandarin numbers from zero to 9 is needed to give and understand phone numbers, so we will begin with a Mandarin number review. Mandarin Number Review Audio files are marked with ► 0 ►líng 1 ►yī 2 ►èr 3 ►sān 4 ►sì 5 ►wǔ 6 ►liù 7 ►qī 8 ►bā 9 ►jiǔ Telephone Vocabulary 電話 mobile phone ►xíng dòng diàn huà / ►shǒu jī 行動電話 / 手機 fax ►chuán zhēn 傳真 hello (for telephone only) ►wèi 喂 what telephone number? ►jǐ hào 幾號 call the wrong number ►dă cuò le 打錯了 busy line ►jiǎng huà zhōng 講話中 answer the phone ►jiē diàn huà 接電話 please wait a moment ►qǐng děng yī xià 請等一下 please leave a message (verbal) ►qǐng liú yán 請留言 leave a message (written) ►liú zì tiáo 留字條 area code ►qū yù mǎ 區域碼 international ►guó jì 國際 long distance ►cháng tú 長途 direct dial ►zhí bō 直撥 telephone company ►diàn xìn jú 電信局 Telephone Dialogue One A: Hello. B: Hello. Is Mr. Wang there? A: I’m sorry, you have the wrong number B: Is this 234-5677? A: No, this is 234-9877. B: Sorry! A: No problem. A: ►Wèi. B: ►Wèi. Qǐng wèn Wáng xiān sheng zài ma? A: ►Duì bu qǐ, nǐ dǎ cuò le. B: ►Zhè lǐ shì 234-5677 ma? A: ►Bú shì, zhè lǐ shì 234-9877. B: ►Duì bu qǐ. A: ►Méi guān xi. A: 喂｡ B: 喂. 請問王先生在嗎? A: 對不起 你打錯了｡ B: 這裡是234-5677嗎? A: 不是 這裡是234-9877｡ B: 對不起｡ A: 沒關係｡ Telephone Dialogue Two A: Hello. B: Hello, is Mr. Wang there? A: Please wait a moment. A: Hello. B: Hello Mr. Wang, this is Li from Da Xing Company. Did you receive our company information that I sent you? A: Hello Mr. Li. Yes, I received it, and I will call you back later to talk about it. B: OK – very good. A: Goodbye. B: Goodbye. A: ►Wèi. B: ►Wèi. Qǐng wèn Wáng xiān sheng zài ma? A: ►Qǐng děng yī xià. A: ►Wèi. B: ►Wáng xiān sheng nǐ hǎo. Wǒ shì Dà Xīng gōng sī de Lín dà míng. Nǐ shōu dào wǒ jì gěi nǐ de zī liào le ma? A: ►Lín xiān sheng nǐ hǎo. Yǒu wǒ shōu dào le. Wǎn yī diǎn wǒ zài dǎ diàn huà gēn nǐ tǎo lùn. B: ►Hǎo de. A: ►Zài jiàn. B: ►Zài jiàn. A: 喂｡ B: 喂｡ 請問王先生在嗎? A: 請等一下｡ A: 喂｡ B: 王先生你好｡ 我是大興公司的林大明｡ 你收到我寄給你的資料了嗎｡ A: 林先生你好｡ 有 我收到了｡ 晚一點我再打電話跟你討論｡ B: 好的｡ A: 再見｡ B: 再見｡ Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Su, Qiu Gui. "Using the Telephone in Mandarin." ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/using-the-telephone-2279371. Su, Qiu Gui. (2020, August 28). Using the Telephone in Mandarin. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/using-the-telephone-2279371 Su, Qiu Gui. "Using the Telephone in Mandarin." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/using-the-telephone-2279371 (accessed March 30, 2023). copy citation