HEYGOW
🎧
ASMR
Learning
HEYGOW
›
中文
Eating & drinking 100
100
phrases
Getting a meal together
10
我请客 - "it's on me" - is said early, before the meal, not after the bill arrives. Announcing it at the start is how the question of who pays gets settled, and it is a real claim rather than a politeness. 随便吃点 lowers the stakes: it says the meal is casual and nobody needs to choose a special restaurant.
Ordering
10
份 and 碗 are the measure words that matter here: 一份炒饭 is a portion, 两碗面 is two bowls. Chinese counts food by its container. Note 先来这些 - "start with these" - which keeps the order open; in a Chinese meal dishes arrive as they are ready and adding more later is normal, not indecisive.
Asking about the menu
10
招牌菜 - the signature dish - is the single most useful thing to ask for, because it is what the kitchen is proud of and what the staff will steer you towards anyway. 够两个人吗 asks whether a dish feeds two, which matters because Chinese portions are built for sharing and ordering per person will bury the table.
How it tastes
10
清淡 has no clean English equivalent: it means light, mild, not heavily seasoned, and it is a compliment. So is 香, which describes an aroma that makes you want to eat and is used far more freely than "fragrant" would be. 吃不惯 - "not used to eating this" - is the polite way to leave something without calling it bad.
Special requests
10
不要香菜 - no coriander - is the request most worth memorising, because coriander appears in places you will not expect and half the world cannot stand it. 少放辣椒 and 少放盐 use the same frame: 少放 plus the ingredient. 请打包 asks for leftovers to be boxed, which carries no stigma at all.
Drinks
10
白开水 - plain boiled water - is a normal thing to order and often free. Note that water arrives hot unless you say 我要冰的; room temperature is not the default and cold water is treated with mild suspicion. 干杯 means the glass is emptied, so raise it only when you intend to.
The bill
10
各付各的 - everyone pays their own - exists but is not the default, and among friends it can read as distance. The normal pattern is that one person pays and the next meal is settled with 下次我请. Fighting briefly over the bill is part of the form; giving in too fast is the mistake.
Cooking at home
10
火太大了 - the flame is too high - is kitchen vocabulary you will hear before you need it, because Chinese home cooking runs on heat control. 剩菜别扔 tells you not to throw leftovers away, and 冰箱里还有 is the answer to almost any question about whether there is more food. Both belong to a household, not a restaurant.
What you can't eat
10
我吃素 - I eat vegetarian - is understood, but be aware that a dish without visible meat may still be cooked in meat stock, so 我不吃肉 is worth repeating. 我对花生过敏 states an allergy plainly; peanuts and peanut oil are everywhere, and this is the sentence to say clearly rather than politely.
At the table
10
多吃点 - "eat more" - is said constantly and is not a comment on your appetite; it is how a host expresses care, and the expected reply is 我吃饱了 rather than an actual increase in eating. 太丰盛了 praises the spread as lavish, which is what a guest is supposed to say whether or not it is true.
Related categories
Greetings 100
Introductions 100
Numbers & time 100
Places & directions 100
Shopping 100
Getting around 100
Requests & offers 100
Feelings & opinions 100
中文