Lesson one Eating (part one)

Week one 你吃什么；你喜欢吃什么

Learn the following two sentences

1. Nĭ     chī  shénme?
    You  eat  what 
2. Nĭ     xĭhuān  chī  shénme?
    You  like       eat  what

Play Media  What do you (want to) eat? (It can also mean what are you eating) Many Chinese expressions are very direct and they don't often say would you like to...   If you ask this question (You eat what) before ordering food in a restaurant, it means that what do you want to eat. But if you ask the same question when someone is eating, it means what are you eating.

Play Media   What would you like to eat?

This is a more polite form to ask somebody's preference of food. Nĭ xĭhuān chī shénme? What would you like to eat?

New words

Wǒ  Play Media I, me
Nĭ    Play Media    you
Tā    Play Media    he, him; she, her
Duō  Play Media (to be) more, many, much 
Shăo Play Media (to be) less, few
Xĭhuān Xĭhuān  Play Media   like
Shénme   Play Media    what
Cài    Play Media    green vegetable, dishes of food e.g. zhè ge cài this dish
Chī   Play Media     to eat

Supplementary words

The following nouns can be placed in front of other nouns to make a noun frase, e.g. Zhōngguó cài Chinese food.  

Zhōngguó           

Play Media   China or Chinese
Yīngguó                                Play Media   Britain or British
Făguó                    Play Media   France or Fench
     

Use the following word-order-table to form sentences

In the word-order-table below, the words in black are nouns and pronouns which are often used as subjects or objects of sentences. The words in red are verbs (or doing words) and the words in blue are adverbs and model verbs which often appear before main verbs and the words in green are adjectives or adjectival phrases which are used to modify nouns, and they are placed before nouns in sentences.

How do you say "I like you"; "He eats Chinese food"; "What dishes do you like"; "What does he like";  "She eats French food"; "I like eating Chinese food"; "Eat less British food"; "Eat more Chinese food"?

Word order
        
subject (nouns and pronouns) adverbs and modal verbs verbs description of nouns (objects) object (nouns and pronouns)

       
Wǒ  I, me Duō  (to be) more, many, much               Chī   to eat    
Nĭ    you Shăo (to be) less, few

 

 Shénme  what Cài    green vegetable, dishes of food e.g. zhè ge cài this dish
Tā    he, him; she, her Xĭhuān   like Xĭhuān   like    
         

             

Listening to the following sentences by clicking on the following links. Hover the mouse over "Answer" to view the answers.

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