How to say "call the police" in Chinese

When To Use It

"call the police" maps to 快报警 (kuài bàojǐng), a urgent emergency phrase for safety situations.

This belongs in risk-sensitive moments where concise wording is better than sounding elegant.

Practice it first exactly as written, then swap in your own people, places, or objects so it becomes part of your active speaking repertoire.

Tone And Delivery

The register is urgent, so speed and clarity take priority over elegance. Deliver it firmly, then add the key detail right away.

Because this is marked intermediate, focus on when it sounds natural, not just how to translate it word for word.

A good practice target is the example sentence 有人偷东西，快报警！ (yǒurén tōu dōngxi, kuài bàojǐng!). Once that feels natural, shorten your pause and try it at conversation speed.

Practice Ideas

This phrase becomes more useful when you learn it as part of a mini-sequence. After saying it, a natural next step could be 帮帮我！ (bāngbang wǒ!).

A second nearby phrase to review is 快叫救护车 (kuài jiào jiùhùchē), which helps you stay in the same topic instead of translating from scratch again.

• Read the example “Someone is stealing things, call the police!” aloud, then replace one detail with your own information.
• Pair it with “Help!” next so your conversation does not stop after a single line.
• In urgent contexts, slow down just enough for the listener to catch the key nouns after the main phrase.
• If you hear a slightly different version in the wild, compare the tone and context before treating it as interchangeable.