Christmas is coming; have you prepared your Christmas gifts? If you are in china, you should know some special things when you give present to your Chinese friends. Ok. Listen to this dialogue.
Shènɡdànjié wǒ yào qù nán pénɡyou de jiā lǐ bàijiàn tā de fùmǔ.
F：圣诞节 我 要 去 男 朋友 的 家里拜见 他 的 父母。
I will go to my boyfriend’s home to meet his parents on the Christmas day.
Nǐ zhǔnbèi le shénme lǐwù?
C：你准备 了 什么 礼物？
What have you got for the presents?
Wǒ mǎi le yíɡè fēichánɡ piàoliɑnɡ de zhōnɡ.
F：我 买 了一个 非常 漂亮 的 钟。
I bought a beautiful clock.
Zhèɡe lǐwù bú héshì，zài hànyǔ lǐ “sònɡzhōnɡ” de yìsi shì wèi línsǐ de rén sònɡxínɡ.
C：这个 礼物 不 合适， 在 汉语 里“送终” 的 意思是 为 临死的 人 送行。
It’s really a bad idea, in Chinese, “song4zhong1” means say goodbye to the dying people.
Yuánlái shì zhèyànɡ，xièxiè nǐ ɡàosu wǒ，fǒuzé wǒ jiù fàncuò le.
F：原来 是 这样， 谢谢 你 告诉 我， 否则 我 就 犯错 了。
I see, thank you for telling me, otherwise I would make a terrible mistake.
Nǐ nénɡ zài péi wǒ qù ɡuànɡjiē mǎi lǐwù mɑ?
F：你 能 再 陪 我 去 逛街 买 礼物 吗？
Could you go with me to buy another gift again?
E.g.：You can not give umbrella as presents to your boyfriend/girlfriend, because umbrella “sǎn” has the same pronunciation with “sàn” which means “break up”.