4.6 Making a Plan — Epoché
What you will be able to do Ask whether somebody is free, propose a time, and accept or refuse one. Use the two endings that turn a time into a proposal: is it all right, and how about it. Refuse in two ways: bluntly, and with a reason. Fix a day and close with a see-you formula. Prerequisites : 3.3, which gives the times and days, and 4.5. Four moves: are you free, a time, an answer, a goodbye that names the day. Every one of them uses a pattern you already have. Two endings turn a time into a proposal: 可以吗 , is it all right — 可以 is the permission verb of 2.12 — and 怎么样 , how about it . Dialogue A Two friends, plain forms throughout. A asks B about the weekend. A 你这个周末有空吗？ [1] — Are you free this weekend? B 我有空。 [2] — I'm free. A 一起学习吧！ [3] — Let's study together! B 三点可以吗？ [4] — Would three o'clock be OK? A 行。 [5] — All right. B 周末见！ [6] — See you at the weekend! B's second line is the whole grammar of fixing a time: a time, then 可以吗 , is it all right . Any time can go in front of it, and the answer is either an acceptance — 行 or 可以 — or a reason why not. The last line names the day of the next meeting, which is how a plan is closed. Dialogue B Two colleagues settling a day for a meeting. A 周一可以吗？ [7] — Is Monday OK? B 那天我不行。 [8] — That's a bad day for me. A 明天怎么样？ [9] — How about tomorrow? B 行。 [5] — All right. A 9点可以吗？ [10] — Would nine o'clock be all right? B 好，明天见！ [11] — OK, see you tomorrow! B's first answer refuses without the blunt 不行！ on its own: that day, I can't puts the day in front, so that it is the day, not the plan or the person, that will not do; between colleagues that is the polite way. The third line uses the other ending, 怎么样 , how about it , after a time word. The fourth accepts with the same word as the refusal, without the negative. Saying It Another Way Eight lines. The first three are the same pattern with different time words. Chinese English When 9点可以吗？ [10] Would nine o'clock be all right? proposing a time, with the is-it-all-right ending 三点可以吗？ [4] Would three o'clock be OK? the same with a different hour 周一可以吗？ [7] Is Monday OK? the same with a day instead of an hour 明天怎么样？ [9] How about tomorrow? the how-about ending after a time word 不行！ [12] No! the blunt refusal: it will not do 我有事要做。 [13] I've got something I need to do. refusing with a reason, the usual polite way 我现在很忙。 [14] I'm busy right now. another reason that does the refusing 周末愉快。 [15] Have a good weekend! the parting wish before a weekend How This Differs from English A verb answers, not a word for yes. Chinese has no single word that answers every question. 对 , right , or 是的 confirms a fact, but a proposal is usually answered with a verb or an adjective, positively or negatively. Asked whether a time suits you, you answer 行 , 可以 or 好 , or their negatives — as both dialogues do. A flat refusal is blunter than it looks. The single word meaning it will not do is fine between friends and abrupt with anybody else. The usual polite refusal gives a reason — I have something to do, I am busy right now — and lets the reason do the refusing. This is the same instinct as English; the blunt form is simply easy to reach for by accident. Time goes before the verb. From 2.10: a Chinese time word stands near the front of the sentence, before the verb, where English usually puts it at the end. We meet at three comes out as we three o'clock meet , and an English speaker's first attempt often keeps the English order. Plans by message. Plans are also made in messaging apps, and the written forms are the same as the spoken ones. New words Word Meaning Notes 有空 zh yǒukòng verb phrase · to be free, to have time Note for English speakers Have plus empty. The negative is 没空 , with the negative of 有 from 2.4, not 不 . 你这个周末有空吗？ — Are you free this weekend? 我有空。 — I'm free. 可以 zh kěyǐ verb · may, can, to be all right Note for English speakers From 0.4. Permission and acceptability, not learned ability — that is 会 , from 2.12 and 4.2. 9点可以吗？ — Would nine o'clock be all right? 周一可以吗？ — Is Monday OK? 怎么样 zh zěnmeyàng （ 怎麼樣 ） zěnmeyàng phrase · how about it; how is it Note for English speakers From 2.6. The suggestion ending, and also the question about how something is or was. 明天怎么样？ — How about tomorrow? 一起 zh yīqǐ adverb · together Note for English speakers From 2.13. Stands before the verb: together study rather than study together. 一起学习吧！ — Let's study together! 周末 zh zhōumò （ 週末 ） zhōumò noun · weekend Note for English speakers From 3.3. Week plus end, as in English. 周末见！ — See you at the weekend! 星期一 zh xīngqīyī noun · Monday Note for English speakers From 3.3. Week plus one; 周一 , in Dialogue B, is a shorter form of the same day. The days are numbered from Monday, so six of the seven come free with the numbers. 行 zh xíng verb · to be all right, will do Note for English speakers From 1.11. One character; its negative is the blunt refusal in the table. 行。 — All right. 不行 zh bùxíng phrase · no, that will not do Note for English speakers Blunt on its own. Between friends it is ordinary; with somebody you do not know well, give a reason instead. 不行！ — No! 那天我不行。 — That's a bad day for me. 见 zh jiàn （ 見 ） jiàn verb · to meet, to see Note for English speakers From 1.10. In closing formulas it means see you: tomorrow-see, weekend-see. 好，明天见！ — OK, see you tomorrow! 愉快 zh yúkuài adjective · pleasant, happy Note for English speakers Used in wishes: have a pleasant weekend. 周末愉快。 — Have a good weekend! Practice Read it aloud. Read both dialogues aloud twice, once as each speaker. Propose five times. Write five proposals in Chinese, each a different time or day followed by the is-it-all-right ending. Refuse twice. Write in Chinese a blunt refusal, and then a refusal that gives a reason. Word order. Write We meet at three in Chinese, and say what moved. Close it. Write in Chinese a see-you formula for tomorrow, one for the weekend, and one for next week. Take B's part. Cover B's lines in Dialogue B and write them in Chinese, in