"Why did you not call me back in the past three days?"
Translation:过去三天为什么你不回我的电话？
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1627
不 is used for the present and future.
If you still haven't spoken to the person and the situation is ongoing, you might leave this message by text or voicemail. "It's been three days, why aren't you returning my calls?"
That's how I understand it, but not sure if that's right.
- 818
But I take it that the question was prompted by the fact that the English is past (or, more accurately, perfect) not present or future.
"Did not call" is preterite and perfective, rather than perfect, which would be "have not called".
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_(grammar)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preterite
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfective_aspect
I don't like Duo's current English sentence ("Why did you not call me back in the past three days?"), and I think something along the lines of CinamonTe1's suggestion would be better, but perhaps it's impossible to come up with a perfect direct translation.
I believe this answer should also be accepted? 过去三天你为什么不回我的电话. Difference is in placement of 你
Better English: "Why have you not returned my calls over the past few days?"
Doesn't this translation mean 'why didn't you answer my calls in the past three days' as opposed to 'why didn't you call me back in the past three days?'
I don't know what the English sentence was when you wrote this comment, but the Chinese sentence is about returning a call, not about replying generally, so it's 回...电话.
Pleco's examples suggest that 回答 is a reply/response/answer to a question (or issue).
Yeah, "return my call" is a more literal translation than "call me back"
