Survival and Travel Chinese Part 4: Eating and Ordering at a Restaurant

Once you have mastered part 3 of our Survival Chinese guide, let's learn some more words and characters to help you during your trip to China.

In this lesson, you'll learn some basic phrases when you eat and order at a restaurant.

Pinyin	English	Chinese Character (simplified)	Comments
fàndiàn	restaurant	饭店
càidān	menu	菜单
mǎidān	get the bill	买单
yǒu	have	有
fúwùyuán	waiter/waitress	服务员	fúwùyuán is gender neutral
shuǐ	water	水
bēi(zi)	cup	杯(子)	bēi is a measure word for cup. Used as a measure word, there is no need to pronounce zi
shūcài	vegetable	蔬菜
cài	dish (type of food)	菜
ròu	meat	肉
niúròu	beef	牛肉
zhūròu	pork	猪肉
jīròu	chicken	鸡肉
ma	particle for question	吗	this particle is used at the end for questions
chāzi	fork	叉子
dāozi	knife	刀子
tāngchí	soup spoon	汤匙
kuàizi	chopstick	筷子
yǐnliào	beverage	饮料
shénme	what	什么
gānbēi	cheers	干杯

Let's try some simple Mandarin phrases using the vocabulary above:

English	Pinyin	Chinese Characters (simplified)
Waiter, can I get the bill?	Fúwùyuán, mǎidān!	服务员, 买单!
Waitress, I want one cup of water	Fúwùyuán, wǒ yào yī bēi shuǐ	服务员, 我要一杯水
Waiter, can I have the menu please?	Fúwùyuán, wǒ yào càidān, xièxie	服务员, 我要菜单, 谢谢
Does this dish have beef?	Zhège cài yǒu niúròu ma?	这个菜有牛肉吗?
Does this dish have vegetables?	Zhège cài yǒu shūcài ma?	这个菜有蔬菜吗?
Waitress, what type of dishes do you have?	Fúwùyuán, nǐ yǒu shénme cài?	服务员, 你有什么菜?
Waiter, what type of beverages do you have?	Fúwùyuán, nǐ yǒu shénme yǐnliào?	服务员, 你有什么饮料?
Waitress, I want chopsticks, thank you.	Fúwùyuán, wǒ yào kuàizi, xièxiè	服务员, 我要筷子,谢谢
Cheers!	Gānbēi!	干杯!

Congratulations! You have completed our surival guide series! Now you know some very basic Mandarin for getting around China!

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