# May I speak to ___ please?



## yuechu

Hello/大家好，

I would like to ask: when you make a telephone call and want to ask to speak to a person, what would be the most natural way to ask this in Chinese? 

I usually say: "你好，请问，__ 在(家）吗？"
Actually I hesitate over the 请问 because I'm not sure if it sounds OK/is used in this situation. What do you usually say?

Thanks in advance/谢谢！


----------



## stellari

baosheng said:


> Hello/大家好，
> 
> I would like to ask: when you make a telephone call and want to ask to speak to a person, what would be the most natural way to ask this in Chinese?
> 
> I usually say: "你好，请问，__ 在(家）吗？"
> Actually I hesitate over the 请问 because I'm not sure if it sounds OK/is used in this situation. What do you usually say?
> 
> Thanks in advance/谢谢！



请问... is the most decent way to ask a question when you make business calls or talk to strangers. I almost always start my telephone conversation like this except for calling very close friends.


----------



## SuperXW

你好，请问，__ 在(家）吗？ is perfect.
If you want to make it even more simple, you can omit either 你好 or 请问, because each one of them already shows your politeness.


----------



## 维尼爱蜂蜜

If it sounds like someone else is answering the phone, i say 请问xxx在吗？
If it might be himself, i say 请问（你、您）是xx吗？


----------



## yuechu

Thanks, stellari, SuperXW and 维尼爱蜂蜜, for your help!


----------



## learntheworld

Yes, the answer provided by yourself is good enough. When you say "你好，请问，__ 在(家）吗？", the one who is answering your phone call will definitely understand your intention of speaking to a certain person or to himself or herself if he or she is the very person.
In Chinese, we also say: "你好，请问可以让 XXX 接电话吗？" or similar words.
The difference is, perhaps the one answering your phone call will say something like "是的，他/她在。你找他/她有什么事？" in response to "你好，请问，__ 在(家）吗？", then you will have to tell that person that you'd like to speak to someone. Besides, personally, I think the translation of "你好，请问可以让 XXX 接电话吗？" is closer to "May I speak to XXX ?" in meaning. 
Well, of course we are not talking about the translation of "May I speak to XXX ?" here. It is my personal opinion and all the above answers are good.
And I think "你好，请问" is all right, people will not feel displeased by what you may think is over courteous, it actually doesn't arouse that kind of feeling since it is very natural in fact. Just my own opinion.


----------



## yuechu

> "是的，他/她在。你找他/她有什么事？"


Yes, usually the phone is just passed over but I have got this reply a few rare times in the past (for personal, not business calls), you are right! although I never knew the precise meaning of the expression and it caught me off guard, as I am used to people simply asking who the other person is. If someone asks that question, do you usually have to summarize the topic of conversation or can you just say who you are? I always thought it sounded like (but am not sure if it actually means) "and what business do you have with them/why would you want to talk to them/what do you want to talk to them for"?
In reply to: "是的，他/她在。你找他/她有什么事？", could one simply answer "This is ____, I'd just like to ask them/talk to them about something"? (if one doesn't want to give a long explanation/the subject is private/or one is just calling the other person to chat?)
"我是___. 我想跟他/她聊一个事"

Could I speak to him/her please?
我能跟他说话吗?
(does this sound like "Zhonglish", as in, foreigner-Chinese?)

Thanks for your reply, learntheworld!


----------



## liannaly

"你好，请问，____在（家）么？"
It's a very good.
Someone asks you to omit either 你好 or 请问，please do not do that.
Yours is perfect. We ask question like this in Beijing.



SuperXW said:


> 你好，请问，__ 在(家）吗？ is perfect.
> If you want to make it even more simple, you can omit either 你好 or 请问, because each one of them already shows your politeness.



Please do not omit neither 你好 nor 请问. If you did, people may feel its a little bit too straight(if omit 你好) or too fast(if omit 请问) to ask question. The answer may feel uncomfortable or strange on the other side. But the answer won't say anything.


----------



## liannaly

baosheng said:


> Yes, usually the phone is just passed over but I have got this reply a few rare times in the past (for personal, not business calls), you are right! although I never knew the precise meaning of the expression and it caught me off guard, as I am used to people simply asking who the other person is. If someone asks that question, do you usually have to summarize the topic of conversation or can you just say who you are? I always thought it sounded like (but am not sure if it actually means) "and what business do you have with them/why would you want to talk to them/what do you want to talk to them for"?
> In reply to: "是的，他/她在。你找他/她有什么事？", could one simply answer "This is ____, I'd just like to ask them/talk to them about something"? (if one doesn't want to give a long explanation/the subject is private/or one is just calling the other person to chat?)
> "我是___. 我想跟他/她聊一个事"
> 
> Could I speak to him/her please?
> 我能跟他说话吗?
> (does this sound like "Zhonglish", as in, foreigner-Chinese?)
> 
> Thanks for your reply, learntheworld!



First of all, you have to understand one thing that in China, many of parents or the old generation will ask ＂你找他／她有什么事？＂. Because we believe no matter how old the children are, they will be always "children" in the eyes of parents or old generation. So if we have friends' phone calls, sometimes, be assured, the other person will ask 你找他／她有什么事？("what business do you have with them/why would you want to talk to them/what do you want to talk to them for?"). And normally, we will summarize what we want to talk to them for the other person's reference. In this way, the other person can generally assure whether his/her friend/family is safe.

And "我是___. 我想跟他/她聊一个事", here 一个事may sounds funny for us. If you were Chinese, we would think you were trying hide sth. on purpose. I would suspect what you guys were going to do and would be alert by you guys' behaviors. If you were a foreigner, we would understand its private for all of you. But we don't feel good with your answer, coz with 一个事, I still don't know what it is. It's just like I didn't ask the question. 

Sometimes, we have our own secrets. We don't want to tell others. As friend, we will say ＂我是____。我们很久没见了，我想跟他／她聊聊，看他／她近况如何。＂or "我是___。我在___方面遇到了问题，想问问他／她。" 

Anyway, it depends on many situations. If you can list out your situations, then I can help for the answers.


----------



## yuechu

> ＂我是____。我们很久没见了，我想跟他／她聊聊，看他／她近况如何。＂or "我是___。我在___方面遇到了问题，想问问他／她。"


These are perfect. Thanks so much, liannaly !


----------



## liannaly

baosheng said:


> These are perfect. Thanks so much, liannaly !



不客气。如果你能看懂，以后我全部用中文解释。


----------



## yuechu

liannaly said:


> First of all, you have to understand one thing that in China, many of parents or the old generation will ask ＂你找他／她有什么事？＂. Because we believe no matter how old the children are, they will be always "children" in the eyes of parents or old generation. So if we have friends' phone calls, sometimes, be assured, the other person will ask 你找他／她有什么事？("what business do you have with them/why would you want to talk to them/what do you want to talk to them for?"). And normally, we will summarize what we want to talk to them for the other person's reference. In this way, the other person can generally assure whether his/her friend/family is safe.


Ah I think I must have missed this from your second reply the first time around. Yes! That makes perfect sense. Actually it cleared up a lot for me.. because it's only happened once or twice but I was thinking that the friend's dad thought I was some dangerous/unwelcome person or something (but it is good that it seems to be common and that they weren't necessarily singling me out as a potential "danger".. in fact, it's just for safety/to make sure the children are OK, as you say, which makes sense).

re: "不客气。如果你能看懂，以后我全部用中文解释。" 
看得懂。好的，太谢谢你了！ You are so kind


----------



## zhg

I would expect 你找他有什么事 to be followed by 他不在. 他不在，你找他有什么事？ is an equivalent of asking would you like to leave him a message? If I was asked the question 他在，你找他有什么事?  and I felt it was too private a matter to divulge or just I hadn't figured out what I was trying to say at that time I would simply avoid the question by replying 我是他同学/同事，找他有点事，麻烦你能让他听下电话吗？


----------



## BODYholic

baosheng said:


> "我是___. 我想跟他/她聊一个事"



Over here, it is quite okay if you do not intend to share your business with the person who picks up your call. Even if the person is of higher social status then you are. But I would say 聊一个事 is pretty bad Chinese by all accounts. The rightful measure word should be 一件事. And if you intend to make your agenda sounds casual .... say something fuzzy. A common way to brush someone off would be 找他/她聊一些事. If the receiving party probes further "聊些什么事?", you may return coldly "一些私事". This should usually suffice to deter most nosy-parkers.


----------



## tarlou

聊个事儿, or maybe 说个事儿 is common in northern China, but here 个 should be light, 事 must be 儿化.


----------

