# Sorry, I'm about to teach a class now.



## yuechu

大家好！

Situation: Someone messages me or calls me, but I'm not available because I'm about to teach a class (online).
Would anyone know how to say "Sorry, I'm about to teach a（Grade 8）class now." in Chinese?
Could you say "我很快就要教一个八年级的课？（课程？）“?
Thanks!


----------



## SuperXW

No. Saying 我很快就要教一个八年级的课？（课程？） would be rather strange in your circumstance.
Your point is that you are not available now. "Sorry" is the first thing you want to say. Why do you need to tell "grade 8" anyway? If you are in hurry, why do you say so much?
You redundant information is confusing...
不好意思，我要上课了 is natural.
Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed. After so much time studying Chinese, this should be a basic one you already knew how to say idiomatically.


----------



## yuechu

Hi, SuperXW! Thanks for your reply! 
Oh, I meant to include "sorry" in Chinese too. (I guess I left it out here because I knew how to say that part)

The only reason I included "Grade 8" is because I wanted to see how it would sound translated, and not necessarily because I needed to include the information.



SuperXW said:


> 不好意思，我要上课了 is natural.


I thought about this translation, which I know how to say, but it seems ambiguous to me... the person could be taking a class or teaching a class. (In English, they are always different)

Could it also be possible to say "不好意思，我要教书了"?

_re: Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed. After so much time studying Chinese, this should be a basic one you already knew how to say idiomatically._
(not sure how to add the quotation in an edited message on here)

Well, to be fair, this situation happened a few days ago, and I think I might have said exactly what you wrote (不好意思，我要上课了！), but I just find that the Chinese expression (上课) is not specific enough... (hence my question)


----------



## T.D

yuechu said:


> I thought about this translation, which I know how to say, but it seems ambiguous to me... the person could be taking a class or teaching a class. (In English, they are always different)


It is ambiguous indeed, but it is kinda inevitable and I guess it's better to be confusing rather than being unidiomatic and awkward.
To avoid confusion, you may add '我是老师' or change '上课' to '讲课' or '教jiao1课'.


yuechu said:


> Could it also be possible to say "不好意思，我要教书了"?


Well, it is not wrong. But to me, 教书 is more like the name of a career (doing education), not the actual activity (giving lectures).

----你找到工作了吗？
----我在中学教书。  

----你明天上午有空吗？
----我要教书。   (not necessarily wrong, but I won't say that)


PS: Oh and, we don't really have 八年级 here （not sure about taiwan）
We have
小学一、二、三、四、五、六年级 for primary schools,
初中一、二、三年级 for junior high （初一、初二、初三）
高中一、二、三年级  for senior high （高一、高二、高三）
大学一、二、三、四年级 for college (大一、大二、大三、大四）
etc.


----------



## Ghabi

Perhaps you can say 我要替学生上课了, if you want to avoid the ambiguity.


----------



## T.D

Ghabi said:


> Perhaps you can say 我要替学生上课了, if you want to avoid the ambiguity.


That's a nice one. And I would probably change '替' to '去给'.


----------



## yuechu

Thanks, T.D and Ghabi!
Is 替 used if someone is a supply teacher? (It means "to replace", right?)


----------



## T.D

yuechu said:


> Thanks, T.D and Ghabi!
> Is 替 used if someone is a supply teacher? (It means "to replace", right?)


Nope. 
Here 替 is a preposition meaning 给，为 （doing something *for* someone）, such as in 医生的工作是替病人看病.


----------



## yuechu

Oh, good to know! Thanks for your explanation, T.D!


----------



## SuperXW

I think we've covered the ambiguity of 上课 in a thread...


Ghabi said:


> Perhaps you can say 我要替学生上课了, if you want to avoid the ambiguity.





yuechu said:


> Thanks, T.D and Ghabi!
> Is 替 used if someone is a supply teacher? (It means "to replace", right?)


I cannot accept 我要替学生上课. I'm surprised T.D could.
替学生上课 is also ambiguous. I would think that your student needs to give a lecture, and you are going to do it for him/her.
To avoid ambiguity, I will only say 我要给学生上课了/我要教课了.


----------



## yuechu

SuperXW said:


> To avoid ambiguity, I will only say 我要给学生上课了/我要教课了.


OK! Thanks, SuperXW!


----------



## Ghabi

SuperXW said:


> I cannot accept 我要替学生上课. I'm surprised T.D could.
> 替学生上课 is also ambiguous. I would think that your student needs to give a lecture, and you are going to do it for him/her.


I'm surprised that you would interpret it this way.  So you also don't say 医生替病人看病 (as in T.D's post above), or you just don't say 老師替学生上课? It might be a regional difference ...


----------



## SimonTsai

yuechu said:


> but I just find that the Chinese expression (上课) is not specific enough...


You are right that it isn't perfectly exact, but we are fine with the ambiguity: You are not a lawyer, and you are not making a merger and acquisition contract, but you are simply chatting with a friend. (The friend may know that you are a teacher at weekends or at night, and a student on weekdays or in the daytime, but even if he doesn't, it is not a big deal, presumably.)


T.D said:


> Oh and, we don't really have 八年级 here (not sure about Taiwan)


We have, but it is not very often used in the sense intended in this thread. More often it is associated with a different meaning: the 80ers according to the calendar of the Republic of China (民國曆).


> 初中一, 二, 三年级 for junior high (初一, 初二, 初三)


'初中' as a term is used here too, and is my preference, but here '國中' is commoner.


> And I would probably change '替' to '去给'.


I like your suggestion: '去給' works better. It is worth noting that it's informal.


SuperXW said:


> I cannot accept 我要替学生上课. I'm surprised @T.D could.


You are not alone. For me, the character '替' always suggests substitution. For example, if '大家都替你捏了把冷汗', then you must have done something that is expected to have made you '捏了把冷汗'. Similarly, we say '謝謝你替我說好話'.

'醫生替人看病' works because '我要去診所看病' also works, and '看病' in these two sentences mean the same thing, to see why you are feeling sick (and what can be done). '老師替學生上課', however, sounds unusual to the extent that I might mark it as wrong. '學生就應該要上課' works, but '上課' in these two sentences practically mean different things, with the first to give lessons and the second to attend classes.


----------



## T.D

In SuperXW and Simon's examples, 替 is a verb meaning *to take the place of someone (and do something)*, such as in 替天行道， to do justice *on behave of* heaven/the God.

In 替病人看病 or 替学生上课, it is a preposition, meaning (do something) *for*.
And yes, SuperXW is right it is ambiguous. But the case he suggests is very unlikely to happen, so I would say the ambiguity is acceptable, at least in a casual context.

Consider this: 你明天要走了，我替你送行吧。(I guess this expression is common enough? )
Apparently, one cannot 送行 him/herself. And it makes no sense if it is "I will see you off on behave of you".

Another possible example: 我真替他感到难过。
If you perceive this 替 as a verb, then the sentence becomes <I feel sorry on behave of him>, which makes no sense. It is <I feel sorry *for* him>.


有一位精神科醫生在替一位常幻想自己是貓的病人看病時
醫生~~"你以為自己是貓...大概是什麼從時候開始
病人~~"當我還是隻小貓時..............
Retrieved from where I believe is a TW website: 編號第16313號笑話|笑話集中營 | KingNet國家網路醫藥|Second Opinion , so I guess perhaps TWers do say that but not as common.


----------



## SuperXW

T.D said:


> 有一位精神科醫生在替一位常幻想自己是貓的病人看病時
> 
> Retrieved from where I believe is a TW website: 編號第16313號笑話|笑話集中營 | KingNet國家網路醫藥|Second Opinion , so I guess perhaps TWers do say that but not as common.


I still don't feel it is common in Mainland either, especially for "替学生上课". I can hardly find any example on Baidu.


----------



## T.D

Perhaps it's a southern dialect...given Ghabi and I find it acceptable...I don't know...


----------



## Ghabi

SimonTsai said:


> '老師替學生上課', however, sounds unusual to the extent that I might mark it as wrong.


This is weird  because I often see this in Taiwan's material, for example (culled from the news):

李榮浩今（30）日貼出一張可愛狗狗的照片，表示本來只是節目中的導師，這幾年變成職業教師，*每天忙著替學生上課*，甚至上到凌晨3點 [...] (source)

社工發現其中一名少女的母親是該協會的祕書長，*偶爾也會兼任教師替學生上課* [...] (source)

時間一到，*老師開始在線上替學生上課* [...]  (source)


----------



## SuperXW

SimonTsai said:


> '醫生替人看病' works because '我要去診所看病' also works, and '看病' in these two sentences mean the same thing, to see why you are feeling sick (and what can be done). (No. One is to see why *YOU ARE* feeling sick, the other is to know why *I AM* feeling sick.) '老師替學生上課', however, sounds unusual to the extent that I might mark it as wrong. '學生就應該要上課' works, but '上課' in these two sentences practically mean different things, with the first to give lessons and the second to attend classes. (Similarly, the doctor 看病 is to 诊疗, the patient is 接受诊疗.)


Although I feel 老师替学生上课 is ambiguous and seems unfamiliar to me, I think it has a same structure with 医生替病人看病.


----------

