Lesson one Eating Meals (part one)

Day one

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 eat? (It can also mean what are you eating) If you ask this question before ordering food in a restaurant, it means what do you 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 polite form to ask somebody's preference of food. Nĭ xĭhuān chī shénme? What would you like to eat?

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 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.

 

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

Use the following word-order-table to form 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 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    
         

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
Yīngguó                                Play Media Britain
Făguó                    Play Media France
     

                          

Listening to the following sentences and over on "Answer" to view the answers.

 

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