Making a Telephone Call

Table of contents

The Essentials 2
► Letters
► Numbers
► Punctuation

Dates and Time 3

► Days and Months
► Saying a Date
► Telling Time
► Time Expressions

Telephone Expressions 4
► Being Called
► Calling
► Making an Appointment
► Postponing or Cancelling an Appointment
► Problems with Telephone Calls: Technical Problems
► Problems with Telephone Calls: Language Poblems
► Telephone Vocabulary

Berlinde De Koker – lecturer; Jordi Casteleyn - author 1

 The Essentials: Letters, Numbers and Punctuation

Letters
A Ei N En
B Bi O ‘Ow’ (zoals in go)
C Si P Pi
D Di Q Kju
E Ie R Aar
F Ef S Es
G Dji T Ti
H Eitsj U Joe
I Ai V Vi
J Djei W Double ‘joe’
K Kei X Eks
L El Y Wai
M Em Z Zed

Berlinde De Koker

first name last name / second name / family name / surname

Numbers
0 ‘Ow’ (like in go), zero 21 Twenty-one
1 One 22 Twenty-two
2 Two 23 …
3 Three 30 Thirty
4 Four 40 Fourty
5 Five 50 Fifty
6 Six 60 Sixty
7 Seven 70 Seventy
8 Eight 80 Eighty
9 Nine 90 Ninety
10 Ten
11 Eleven 100 One hundred
12 Twelve 200 …
13 Thirteen
14 Fourteen 1 000 One thousand
15 Fifteen
16 Sixteen 1 000 000 A million
17 Seventeen
18 Eighteen 1 000 000 000 A billion
19 Nineteen
20 Twenty 1 000 000 000 000 A trillion

Berlinde De Koker – lecturer; Jordi Casteleyn - author 2

 32 9 264 85 46

Country code Area code Number

= Telephone number

Punctuation
X_y Underscore
x-y Hyphen
. Dot
/ Slash
@ At
: Colon

Dates and Time

Days and Months

Days Months
Monday January July
Tuesday February August
Wednesday March September
Thursday April October
Friday May November
Saturday June December
Sunday

Saying a Date
23 January 2007

► The twenty-third of January

► January the twenty-third
► January twenty-third

Telling Time
10h It is ten o’clock. / It’s ten a.m.
22h It’s ten p.m.
10.08h It is ten past ten.
It is ten eight.
10.15h It’s a quarter past ten.
It’s ten fifteen.
10.30h It’s half past ten.
It’s ten thirty.
10.45h It’s quarter to eleven.
It’s ten forty-five.
10.52h It’s eight (minutes) to eleven.
It’s ten fifty-two.

Berlinde De Koker – lecturer; Jordi Casteleyn - author 3

Time Expressions
‘s morgens In the morning
‘s middags At noon
‘s avonds In the evening
‘s nachts At night
In het weekend At the weekend
Eergisteren The day before yesterday
Gisteren Yesterday
Vandaag Today
Morgen Tomorrow
Overmorgen The day after tomorrow

X keer op een week X times a week

Hoe laat is het? What is the time?
What time is it?
(We zien elkaar) op maandag (dan?) (We’ll see each other) on Monday (then?)
(Hij zal) over twintig minuten terug (zijn.) (He’ll be) back in 20 minutes.
(Drie weken) geleden (Three weeks) ago
Tegen (1 februari) klaar Ready by (February 1)
Gesloten van … tot … Closed from … until/till/to …

Telephone Expressions

Being called
Answering a call Good morning / Good evening, … speaking. How
can I help you? / What can I do for you?
Asking for identity Who’s calling, please?
Can I have your name please?
May I ask who’s calling?
Excuse me, who is this?
Asking the caller to hold Hold the line please.
One moment please.
Just a moment please.
Connecting the caller I’ll put you through.
I’ll connect you with …
Somebody’s not available I’m afraid … is not available.
I’m afraid the line is busy/engaged.
I’m sorry, but … is not in / is out / is away to …
Offering to make a message. Would you like to leave a message?
Can I take a message?
Confirming information One moment. I’ll just get a pen.
Yes, of course.
Certainly.
No problem.
Be my guest.

Calling
Starting a telephone call Good morning, this is …
My name is …
NOT: I am …

Berlinde De Koker – lecturer; Jordi Casteleyn - author 4

Asking to speak someone
Leaving a message
Making an Appointment
I had graag een afspraak gemaakt met..
Ik kijk even in zijn agenda
Past woensdag 24 januari u?
Ik heb liever vrijdag
Dan is hij niet vrij
Wanneer past het u?
Wat denkt u van donderdag?
Dat is in orde
Is 11u mogelijk?
Postponing or Cancelling an Appointment
Ik bel ivm onze afspraak volgende vrijdag
Ik vrees dat ik de afspraak moet afzeggen
Bedankt om te bellen
Bedankt om het te laten weten
Graag gedaan
Zij zal een beetje later zijn
Hij zit vast in het verkeer
Ik zal het noteren
Kunnen we de afspraak uitstellen?
Problems with Telephone Calls: Technical Problems
Excuseer, ik ben verkeerd verbonden
Er zit veel storing op de lijn
Het is een slechte verbinding
Er neemt niemand op
Het nummer is bezet
Problems with Telephone Calls: Language Problems
Sorry, ik spreek niet zo goed Engels
Kunt u een beetje trager spreken aub?
Sorry, ik heb dat nummer niet
Kan u dat even herhalen?
Wat bedoelt u juist met …?
Berlinde De Koker – lecturer; Jordi Casteleyn - author
May I speak to …? (formal)
Could I speak to …?
Can I speak to …?
Is … there? (informal)
Can I leave a message?
I’ll leave a message.
I’d like to leave a message.
I’d like to / I’m ringing to make an appointment
with …
I’ll check his diary
Is Wednesday, the 24th of January suitable all
right?
I prefer Friday
He’s not free then
When would be a good time then?
What about Thursday?
That’s fine/perfect/all right/okay
Is 11 a.m. possible?
I’m calling about our appointment next Friday
I’m afraid I have to cancel/break/call off the
appointment
Thank you for calling
Thank you for letting us know
You’re welcome
I’m afraid she’ll be a bit later
He’s stuck in traffic
I’ll make a note of it
Could we postpone the appointment?
Excuse me, I must have dialled the wrong
number
There is terrible interference on the line
It is a bad line
There is no answer
The number is busy
Sorry, I don’t speak English very well
Could you speak a bit more slowly please?
Sorry, I didn’t catch that number
Could you repeat that please?
What exactly do you mean with …?
5
Ok, da’s genoteerd Ok, I’ve got that now
Ok, ik begrijp het Ok, I understand

Telephone vocabulary
Beller The caller
Bezettoon Engaged tone
(Am E) the busy signal
Gouden gids The yellow pages
Gsm The mobile phone / mobile / cellphone
Hoorn Receiver / handset
De hoorn op de haak leggen To put down the receiver
De hoorn van de haak nemen To pick up the receiver
To lift the receiver
Kiestoon (Br E) the dialling tone
(Am E) the dial tone
Ontvanger The receiver
Telefoon The telephone / phone
Telefoon beantwoorden To answer the phone
Telefoon opnemen To pick up the phone
Telefooncel A phone booth / telephone box
Inkomend gesprek An incoming call
Nummer vormen To dial a number
Telefoonkaart A telephone card
Telefoonboek The telephone directory
The phone book
Aan de telefoon zijn / To be on the (tele)phone
aan het telefoneren zijn
Landnummer The country code
Zonenummer The area code
The dialling code
Telefoontje doen To make a (telephone) call
Op een toets drukken To press a key
Ophangen To hang up

Berlinde De Koker – lecturer; Jordi Casteleyn - author 6