Xiao Liu suggests a night out on Saturday. Xiaoyu has to meet her sister at the station.
Xiao Liu
小雨，星期六晚上我们去唱歌，你来不来？
Xiǎoyǔ, xīngqīliù wǎnshang wǒmen qù chànggē, nǐ lái bù lái ?
Xiaoyu, we are going out singing on Saturday evening, will you come?
Xiaoyu
星期六我可能去不了。我姐姐从外地来，我得去车站接她。
Xīngqīliù wǒ kěnéng qù bù le. Wǒ jiějie cóng wàidì lái, wǒ de qù chēzhàn jiē tā.
I probably cannot make Saturday. My sister is coming in from out of town and I have to meet her at the station.
Xiao Liu
接完再来也行，我们十点还在。
Jiē wán zài lái yě xíng, wǒmen shí diǎn hái zài.
Come after you have picked her up, we will still be there at ten.
Xiaoyu
她坐的车晚上九点才到，太晚了。
Tā zuò de chē wǎnshang jiǔ diǎn cái dào, tài wǎn le.
Her train does not get in until nine, that is too late.
Xiao Liu
那下个星期呢？
Nà xià gè xīngqī ne ?
What about next week?
Xiaoyu
下个星期可以。你们常去那家吗？
Xià gè xīngqī kěyǐ. Nǐmen cháng qù nà jiā ma ?
Next week I can. Do you go to that place often?
Xiao Liu
差不多一个月一次。下次我提前三天告诉你。
Chàbuduō yī gè yuè yī cì. Xiàcì wǒ tíqián sān tiān gàosu nǐ.
About once a month. Next time I will tell you three days ahead.
Xiaoyu
好。这次真对不起，你们玩得开心。
Hǎo. Zhè cì zhēn duìbuqǐ, nǐmen wán de kāixīn.
Good. I am sorry about this time, have a lovely evening.
Xiao Liu
没关系，家里的事重要。
Méi guānxi, jiālǐ de shì zhòngyào.
Never mind, family comes first.
Xiaoyu never says 不去. She says first that she cannot, 去不了, which puts the blame on circumstances; she then gives the reason, a family obligation, the one reason nobody argues with; and she finally suggests another date. Answering 我不去 without the other two stages would be understood as a refusal of the person, not of the evening.
才 before the verb says the moment comes late, later than one would wish: 九点才到. Its opposite is 就: 九点就到了, as early as nine. The same pair serves for quantities: 三十岁才结婚, not to marry until thirty, against 二十岁就结婚了. Neither translates into a fixed English word.
接完再来: first go and meet her, then come. The first verb carries 完, which says the action must be finished, and 再 marks what follows. Without 完, 接了再来 would also be said; without 再, the sentence would lose the order of the actions. 再 looks to the future, as against 又, which reports a repetition in the past.
