Hover a line for its pinyin and translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Saturday evening. Alex, Su Xiaoyu and Yang Fan have dinner after the film.
位 is the polite measure word for people. A restaurant asks 几位 and you answer 三位; 三个人 is not wrong but it is flatter, and you would not use it about guests. Use 个 for people generally and 位 whenever courtesy is in play. 来 is doing something unexpected here. Its plain meaning is “to come”, but at a table it means “bring me” — 来一个麻婆豆腐. It is brisk and completely normal; no one hears it as rude. 好 attaches to a verb to mean “pleasant to do”: 好吃 tasty, 好喝 nice to drink, 好看 good-looking, 好听 nice to listen to. Watch the pairing — tea is 好喝, never 好吃, and the mistake is immediately audible.
How do I read these pronunciations? See the pronunciation guide.
1. 还是 — this one or that one?
还是 offers a choice inside a question: 要米饭还是面条？ Crucially, a 还是 question takes no 吗 — the choice is already the question. Its partner 或者 does the same job in a statement: 米饭或者面条都行. Using 或者 in a question, or 还是 in a statement, is the standard mix-up, and English gives no warning because “or” covers both.
2. 来 — ordering at a table
来 plus a quantity is how food is ordered once you are seated: 来一个牛肉, 来两杯茶. The measure word is still compulsory, exactly as in lesson 2. It is more idiomatic than 要 in a restaurant, and it is what you will hear from the table next to you.
3. 好 + verb — pleasant to do
Put 好 in front of a verb and you get an adjective meaning “good to do that with”: 好吃, 好喝, 好看, 好听, 好玩. Each pairs with its own sense, so food is 好吃, a drink is 好喝, music is 好听 — swapping them is a genuine error, not a stylistic choice. The opposite is 难: 难吃, 难看, 难听.
4. 再 — another one, still to come
再 marks a repetition that has not happened yet: 再来三杯茶, 我明天再来. For something that has already happened again, Chinese uses 又 instead — 他又来了. English says “again” for both, so the split has to be learned deliberately: 再 looks forward, 又 looks back.
A. Fill in the Blank · 填空
Fill in the blank with a word from this lesson's vocabulary.
- 1.要米饭面条？or (in a question)
- 2.一个牛肉。bring, have (ordering)
- 3.麻婆豆腐很。tasty
- 4.来三杯茶。more, again
B. Multiple Choice · 选择
Choose the best answer.
- 1.How do you ask “will you have tea or coffee?”
- 2.Which is correct?
- 3.When do you use 或者 rather than 还是?
- 4.You want one more cup of tea. Which word?
C. Rearrange the Sentence · 排序
Rearrange the words into a correct sentence, adding the punctuation shown in parentheses.
- 1.Tap tiles below…
- 2.Tap tiles below…
- 3.Tap tiles below…
- 4.Tap tiles below…
D. True or False · 判断
Based on the dialogue, mark each sentence T (true) or F (false).
- 1.There are three people eating.
- 2.Su Xiaoyu orders a beef dish.
- 3.The mapo tofu is spicy.
- 4.They order two teas.
E. Matching · 连线
Match each line on the left with the best response on the right.
F. Translation · 翻译
Translate items 1–2 into Chinese, and items 3–4 into English.
- 1.Rice or noodles?
- 2.Three more teas.
- 3.我喜欢吃肉。
- 4.麻婆豆腐很辣，很好吃。
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Ordering for the table
A Chinese meal is shared. Dishes arrive in the middle of the table and everyone eats from them, so ordering is done for the group rather than each person picking their own — usually by one person, often asking the others only what they will not eat. Calling 服务员 across the room is normal rather than rude; waiting quietly to be noticed will leave you waiting. Tipping is not customary and can cause confusion. One person pays for everybody, and the brief insistent argument over who that will be is part of the meal.