说临时有事 走不开 那太好了
“He said he had something to do and couldn't leave. That's great.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
徐老板也刚刚给我 打了个电话
“Mr. Xu called me just now.”
说 临时有事 走不开 那太好了
“He said he had something to do and couldn't leave. That's great.”
跟他说
“Tell him”
“Thank goodness he cancelled; I didn't want to deal with him anyway.”
Claiming sudden busyness (临时有事) is a universally accepted, face-saving formula in Chinese professional culture to decline or cancel without causing offense.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
something came up unexpectedly
The most standard, polite spoken excuse in Chinese for cancelling plans or arriving late.
tied down / unable to get away
A natural idiomatic expression used to explain that obligations prevent you from leaving.
that's wonderful / that works out great
Common spoken reaction when hearing news that resolves an unwanted social obligation.
Emphasizes the completion of an evaluation and indicates a high degree of subjective satisfaction.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“has a last-minute emergency.”
“I've got something urgent to handle and can't get away.”
“So he hasn't left. He just went out for a bit, right?”
“Hello. Is something wrong? Come with us.”
“I have a last-minute meeting. I probably won't make it.”
“If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving.”