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Making Excuses

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IN THIS LESSON
ID: 3054 Intermediate
This lesson is about not turning up to an appointment on time. The friend wants to know what reason he had for not showing up, and questions his excuses. We look in depth at two similar words for reason: 原因 yuányīn and 理由 lǐyóu.
Fiona Tian,Gwilym
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Detailed Vocabulary
Each lesson has it's unique vocabulary and will provide you with definitions and recordings so you can practice the pronunciation. You will also be able to grasp the core material of a lesson at a glance. Here we're showing you the Simplified Chinese version.
SIMPLIFIED PINYIN ENGLISH  
约好 yuē hǎo to make an appointment
原因 yuányīn cause
回 huí to reply
理由 lǐyóu reason
李强我们前天不是约好七点在车站见面你为什么没来
Lǐqiáng 李强wǒmen 我们qiántiān 前天bùshì 不是yuē hǎo 约好qī diǎn 七点zài 在chēzhàn 车站jiànmiàn 见面nǐ 你wèishénme 为什么méilái 没来
Li Qiang, didn't we agree to meet at the train station at seven the day before yesterday? Why didn't you turn up?
对不起对不起我那是有原因的
duìbuqǐ 对不起duìbuqǐ 对不起wǒ 我nà 那shì 是yǒu 有yuányīn 原因de 的
Sorry! Sorry! There was a reason I didn't turn up.
你知道我等你等了一个小时打你手机也不回你说说你有什么理由
nǐ 你zhīdào 知道wǒ 我děng 等nǐ 你děng 等le 了yī 一gè 个xiǎoshí 小时dǎ 打nǐ 你shǒujī 手机yě 也bù 不huí 回nǐ 你shuō 说shuō 说nǐ 你yǒu shénme 有什么lǐyóu 理由
Do you know I waited for you for an hour? And you didn't even pick up when I called your cell phone. What reason could you have had!
我真的不是故意的前天中午我忽然觉得不舒服下午请假回家休息
wǒ 我zhēnde 真的bùshì 不是gùyì 故意de 的qiántiān 前天zhōngwǔ 中午wǒ 我hūrán 忽然juéde 觉得bù shūfu 不舒服xiàwǔ 下午qǐngjià 请假huíjiā 回家xiūxi 休息
I really didn't mean to. At noon on the day before yesterday I suddenly felt unwell, so I had to ask for time of work to go home and rest.
Natural Dialogues
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