打电话 meaning in English

dǎ diànhuà

to make a telephone call

HSK 1Traditional 打電話18 strokes

Meaning of 打电话

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

dǎdiànhuà

to make a telephone call

How to use 打电话

打电话 is the everyday way to say "make a phone call". The person you call goes before the verb with 给 (gěi). Example: 我给妈妈打电话。(Wǒ gěi māma dǎ diànhuà.) I call my mom.

打 (dǎ) means to hit or strike, and 电话 (diànhuà) is literally "electric speech", so 打电话 pictures you "striking" the electric talking machine to start a call. The same 电 (diàn) appears in 电视 (diànshì) and 电脑 (diànnǎo), so think of it as the electricity part.

Common mistake: Learners often say 我打电话妈妈, putting the person after the phrase like in English. In Chinese the person comes first with 给: 我给妈妈打电话 (Wǒ gěi māma dǎ diànhuà).

打电话 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

他tā每měi天tiān晚wǎn上shàng打dǎ电diàn话huà给gěi她tā。

He calls her up every night.

你nǐ到dào那nà儿ér的de时shí候hòu给gěi我wǒ打dǎ电diàn话huà啊a。

When you get there, call me.

我wǒ到dào家jiā后hòu给gěi你nǐ打dǎ电diàn话huà。

I'll give you a call when I get home.

我wǒ明míng天tiān会huì打dǎ电diàn话huà给gěi你nǐ。

I will call you tomorrow.

她tā的de妈mā妈mā给gěi她tā打dǎ电diàn话huà。

Her mother calls her.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

打 dǎ · to hit · 5 strokes

电 diàn · lightning · 5 strokes

话 huà · dialect · 8 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 打电话.

电话	diànhuà	telephone; phone call
说话	shuōhuà	to speak; to say
电影	diànyǐng	movie; film
打开	dǎkāi	to open; to show (a ticket)
电视	diànshì	television; TV
电脑	diànnǎo	computer
打球	dǎ qiú	to play a ball sport
电影院	diànyǐngyuàn	cinema; movie theater
电视机	diànshìjī	television set
打车	dǎchē	to take a taxi (in town); to hitch a lift
的话	dehuà	if (coming after a conditional clause)
打算	dǎsuàn	to plan; to intend

Questions about 打电话

What does 打电话 mean?

打电话 (dǎ diànhuà) means "to make a telephone call".

How do you write 打电话?

打电话 is made of 3 characters: 打 (5 strokes), 电 (5 strokes), 话 (8 strokes). That is 18 strokes in total.

Is 打电话 an HSK word?

Yes. 打电话 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

How is 打电话 written in traditional Chinese?

In traditional characters, 打电话 is written 打電話.

Can I split 打电话 with other words in the middle?

Yes. 打电话 is a verb plus object, so you can insert things like 了 or a count. For example, 我打了两个电话 (Wǒ dǎ le liǎng ge diànhuà) means I made two phone calls.

How do I say "answer the phone" or "hang up"?

To answer a call is 接电话 (jiē diànhuà). To hang up is 挂电话 (guà diànhuà). Both follow the same verb plus 电话 pattern as 打电话.