📞 Say what you want to do
我要打电话 (wǒ yào dǎ diànhuà) means “I want to make a phone call.” It is a useful everyday sentence when you need to call someone.
The pattern is simple: 我 means “I,” 要 expresses what you want to do, and 打电话 means “to make a phone call.”
1. Put 我 first to say who wants to act.
2. Put 要 before the action to express what you want to do.
3. Use 打电话 as a complete phrase meaning “make a phone call.”
🧩 Understand the sentence
我 + 要 + 打电话 is the basic structure. Chinese often puts the person first, followed by 要 and the action.
Compare 我要打电话 (“I want to make a call”) with 打电话 (“make a phone call”). The first tells someone what you want to do; the second names the action.
🚀 Three-step practice
- Step 1: Watch the scene once and listen for 打电话.
- Step 2: Repeat 我要打电话 aloud, keeping the words in the same order.
- Step 3: Say the sentence again without reading the pinyin.
Do not put 要 after the action. Say 我要打电话, not 我打电话要, when you mean “I want to make a phone call.”
🎯 Practice with NihaoHSK
Watch short Chinese scenes, listen to the pronunciation, follow the pinyin, and repeat useful sentences. Visit nihaohsk.com to build your everyday Chinese one scene at a time.