Mandarin: Food and drink

In Mandarin, there are two important verbs to remember for food and drink:

• 吃 chī - eat

• 喝 hē - drink

Did you know?

While this is the same as English, it does mean that there are two different ways to say delicious in Mandarin:

• 好吃 hǎo chī - good to eat
• 好喝 hǎo hē - good to drink

You can add 很 hěn (very) to the beginning of these phrases too.

Talking about food and drink in Mandarin

To say what food and drink you do or do not like in Mandarin use:

• 我喜欢吃 Wǒ xǐ huān chī - I like to eat…

• 我喜欢喝 Wǒ xǐ huān hē - I like to drink…

• 我不喜欢吃 Wǒ bù xǐ huān chī - I don’t like to eat…

• 我不喜欢喝 Wǒ bù xǐ huān hē - I don’t like to drink…

You can fill in the gap with some of the following foods and drinks:

If you like orange juice, but you don’t like vegetables, try the following in Mandarin:

• 我喜欢喝橙汁 Wǒ xǐ huān hē chéng zhī - I like drinking orange juice

• 我不喜欢吃蔬菜 Wǒ bù xǐ huān chī shū cài - I don’t like eating vegetables

To combine these two statements, 但是 dàn shì (however) can be used.

You can also talk about food and drink in Mandarin using:

• 我想 Wǒ xiǎng - I want to…

• 我不想 Wǒ bù xiǎng - I don’t want to

For example:

• 我想吃薯条 Wǒ xiǎng chī shǔ tiáo - I want to eat chips

• 我不想喝水 Wǒ bù xiǎng hē shuǐ - I don’t want to drink water