Learn vocabulary and expressions in Mandarin Chinese that you can use when you travel by plane in China. PDF transcripts, worksheets, additional situational dialogues for all lessons are available from my Website, please sign up to become a registered member.
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Serge,
Good lesson. How would you say I have to change planes in London?
我 在 伦敦 得 转 飞机
wǒ zài lún dūn děi zhuǎn fēi jī
or is it better to say
换飞机
huàn fēi jī
Also, how about “The flight is delayed”
Can you say:
飞机晚点起飞
fēi jī wǎn diǎn qǐ fēi
And finally, how about “I missed my flight”
Can you say
我赶不上航班
wǒ gǎn bù shàng háng bān
谢谢 你
OK, Good that you are asking, I admit I missed the expression for delayed flight, transfers, etc, so this could also be a good extension for everyone. So here we go.
You asked about changing planes in London. In Mandarin there is an expression called zhuan3ji1(转机),which is basically what you said, but it’s actually a new word, so one should say zhuan3ji1 for changing planes of transfers, not zhuan3 fei1ji1, zhuan3fei1ji1(转飞机) is absolutely right, but people say zhuan3j1.
Huan4 fei1ji1(换飞机) is more like “to change a plane due to a mechanical breakdown or something like that”, so you are literally “changing planes”.
I have to change planes in London, I would say: Wo3 yao4 zai4 Lun2dun1 zhuan3ji1(我要在伦敦转机)
The word dei3(得) that you mentioned is very colloquial（very typical for Beijing dialect and northern dialects in general) and, of course, in your case you can also say: Wo3 dei3 zai4 Lun2dun1 zhuan3ji1(我得在伦敦转机)。:-)
Let’s move on. What you say: Fei1ji1 wan3dian3 qi3fei1(飞机晚点起飞)-gramatically speaking is absolutely right, however, for delayed flights there is a special word: wu4dian3(误点) E.g. The flight is delayed-Hang2ban1 wu4dian3 le(航班误点了)
And finally, Wo3 gan3bu2shang4 wo3de hang2ban1(我赶不上我的航班) will be I WILL NOT get on my flight on time. In this case, you haven’t missed it yet.
Gan3bu2shang4（赶不上） is the same thing as bu4 neng2 gan3shang4(不能赶上). So it should be: Wo3 mei2 gan3shang4 wo3de hang2ban1(我没赶上我的航班)
To miss a flight-Cuo4guo4 hang2ban1(错过航班)。
I missed my flight, I would say: Wo3 cuo4guo4 le wo3de hang2ban1.(我错过了我的航班)
You are welcome:-D
Hey Serge, when you said that people’s Mandarin in Guangdong and other southern areas is terrible, did you mean grammar, vocab etc or just a really thick accent?
Well, I didn’t really say it’s terrible, but some of them do have a heavy accent.:-D
It’s mainly the accent issue.