Learn Hardcore Vietnamese: Chị phải gọi điện thoại cho khách trước khi khách đến khách sạn. - I older sister have to call the guests before they arrive at the hotel.

When a woman talks about herself to someone younger or lower in status, she may call herself chị (instead of “I”).
- Example: Chị phải gọi điện thoại… = I (female, older) have to call…
When someone younger talks to an older woman, they may call her chị (instead of “you”).
- Example: Chị phải gọi điện thoại… could also be you telling an older woman: You have to call…

So this sentence is most naturally said either:

by an adult woman talking about herself, or
to an adult woman being addressed politely.

Context will decide whether chị is “I” or “you” in English.

What does phải mean in this sentence?

Phải here is a modal verb meaning must / have to.

Chị phải gọi điện thoại…
→ You / I must call… or You / I have to call…

It expresses obligation or necessity, similar to:

must
have to

Without phải, the sentence would be more neutral:

Chị gọi điện thoại cho khách…
→ You/I call the guest… (no clear sense of obligation).

Is gọi điện thoại one word or a phrase, and what does it literally mean?

Gọi điện thoại is a phrase, not a single word.

gọi = to call, to shout
điện thoại = telephone (phone)

Together gọi điện thoại literally means “call (by) telephone”, so in natural English it simply means “to call (someone)” on the phone.

You can translate:

gọi điện thoại cho khách → call the guest (on the phone).

Why do we need cho in gọi điện thoại cho khách?

Cho here marks the indirect object (the person receiving the action).

gọi điện thoại cho khách
literally: call phone *for/to the guest
meaning: *call the guest (on the phone)

In this pattern:

gọi (điện thoại) cho + [person] = to call [person] (on the phone)

So cho functions similarly to “to” in English when you say “call to someone,” but in English we normally drop “to” and just say “call someone.” In Vietnamese, cho is natural and often required.

Can you drop điện thoại and just say gọi cho khách?

Yes, in many contexts you can simply say:

Chị phải gọi cho khách.
→ You/I have to call the guest.

When the context clearly involves the phone, gọi by itself is often understood as “call (on the phone)”.

However:

gọi điện thoại is more explicit and a bit more formal/clear when teaching or in written instructions.
gọi alone can also mean “call out / summon / order (food, a taxi, etc.)”, so if there is any ambiguity, gọi điện thoại removes that.

Why is khách repeated? Can I omit the second khách?

The sentence has khách twice:

Chị phải gọi điện thoại cho khách
trước khi khách đến khách sạn.

So it literally says:
You have to call the guest before *the guest arrives at the hotel.*

The repetition is:

very normal in Vietnamese
often clearer, because pronouns like “he/she/they” are not always used in the same way as in English.

You can sometimes omit the second khách if the context is very clear, and just say:

Chị phải gọi điện thoại cho khách trước khi đến khách sạn.

This could mean:

You have to call the guest before arriving at the hotel.
But notice: without khách before đến, it can also sound like chị is the one arriving at the hotel, not the guest.

So:

Keeping khách before đến clearly marks that the guest is the one arriving:
- trước khi khách đến khách sạn = before the guest arrives at the hotel.

How does Vietnamese show the future meaning “before the guest arrives” if there is no future tense marker?

Vietnamese usually doesn’t mark tense the way English does. Instead, it relies on time expressions and context.

trước khi khách đến khách sạn
literally: before guest arrive hotel

There is:

no word meaning “will” in the sentence
but trước khi (“before”) and context of hotel arrivals imply a future event.

So:

đến by itself is timeless; context makes it “arrives / will arrive.”
The whole sentence is naturally understood as:
- You / I must call the guest before the guest arrives at the hotel.

What does trước khi mean and how does this clause work?

Trước khi is a conjunction meaning before (doing something / before something happens).

Structure:

[Main clause] + trước khi + [subordinate clause]

In the sentence:

Chị phải gọi điện thoại cho khách = main clause
trước khi khách đến khách sạn = subordinate clause

So:

trước khi khách đến khách sạn = before the guest arrives at the hotel

This is very similar to English structure:
You must call the guest before the guest arrives at the hotel.

Why is there no “at” before khách sạn? Why not something like “tại khách sạn”?

In Vietnamese, location can often be expressed simply by putting the place noun after the verb of motion, without a preposition.

đến khách sạn
literally: arrive hotel
meaning: arrive at the hotel

Tại can mean “at,” but:

đến tại khách sạn is grammatical but more formal and less natural in everyday speech.
The most common, natural form is just:
- đến + [place] = arrive at [place]

So:

khách đến khách sạn = the guest arrives at the hotel (no extra “at” needed).

What’s the difference between đến and tới? Could you say trước khi khách tới khách sạn?

Đến and tới both commonly mean “to arrive / to reach / to go to”.

đến khách sạn
tới khách sạn

Both are acceptable and common, with only slight regional or stylistic differences:

Many speakers use them almost interchangeably in this sense.
đến is a bit more “neutral” and often used in formal writing.
tới can feel more colloquial in some regions.

So yes, you can say:

Chị phải gọi điện thoại cho khách trước khi khách tới khách sạn.

Meaning stays the same.

Is khách sạn a compound word? What does it literally mean?

Yes, khách sạn is a compound noun meaning hotel.

khách = guest
sạn (in this compound) doesn’t have a clear stand‑alone meaning for most modern speakers; it comes from old Sino‑Vietnamese roots.

So khách sạn as a whole just means hotel.
You always say the full khách sạn; you don’t drop sạn or use khách alone to mean “hotel.”

Could you replace khách with a pronoun, like “anh ấy” or “cô ấy”?

Yes, you could replace khách with a person-specific term or pronoun if the identity and gender are known.

For example:

Chị phải gọi điện thoại cho anh ấy trước khi anh ấy đến khách sạn.
→ You / I have to call him before he arrives at the hotel.

or, using a kinship/pronoun:

Chị phải gọi điện thoại cho anh trước khi anh đến khách sạn.
(Talking to or about “anh” = older brother / older male)

In the original sentence, khách emphasizes the role “guest”, not the specific person. That’s natural when you’re talking about work procedures in a hotel context.

What is the natural English translation of the whole sentence, and are there alternatives?

Most natural translations:

You have to call the guest before the guest arrives at the hotel.
You must call the guest before they arrive at the hotel.
If chị = “I”: I have to call the guest before they arrive at the hotel.

You can also make it more natural in English by avoiding repetition:

You have to call the guest before they get to the hotel.

The Vietnamese sentence is slightly more explicit and repetitive, which is normal and natural in Vietnamese.