食飯
sik6 faan6
The Cantonese phrase for 'eat rice' is 食飯 (sik6 faan6).
While it can be used literally to mean consuming cooked rice, 食飯 is most commonly used idiomatically to mean having a meal. This applies even if the food being eaten consists of noodles, bread or other non-rice items.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the verb 食 (to eat) and the noun 飯 (rice/meal).
Which one should you use?
食飯 functions both as a literal description of eating rice and as a general way to say one is having a meal.
How does it change in a sentence?
To indicate that the action of eating a meal has been completed, you can add the aspect marker 咗 after the verb to get 食咗飯 (ate a meal / has eaten rice).
How do you pronounce it?
sik6 faan6
Did you know?
- While 食飯 is the general term for eating, using the verb 食 with other nouns can create idioms, such as 食豆腐 ('eat tofu'), which actually means to flirt with or harass someone.
- In Cantonese culture, asking someone 食咗飯未? (Have you eaten yet?) is often used as a warm way to say 'hello' or 'how are you?', rather than an actual inquiry about their hunger.
- The term 食飯 can also be used metaphorically in certain contexts to mean 'earning a living', similar to the English expression 'earning one's bread'.
Examples in context
- 有無試過用羹食飯？Do you ever eat rice with a spoon?This sentence is useful for practicing the use of 食飯.Tatoeba #12073463 by thesilhouette, translation #6910075 by CK
- 我要食飯。I want to eat rice.
- 一齊出去食嘢？Let's go out and grab something to eat?
- 我想請你食飯。ngo5 soeng2 cing2 nei5 sik6 faan6.I want to treat you to a meal.
Example conversation
Two friends are talking on the phone in the late afternoon.
- 雅婷 Nga Ting家明，你食咗飯未呀？kaa1 ming4, nei5 sik6 zo2 faan6 mei6 aa3?Ka Ming, have you eaten yet?
- 家明 Ka Ming我仲未呀，你呢？ngo5 zung6 mei6 aa3, nei5 ne1?Not yet, how about you?
- 雅婷 Nga Ting我都未食，一齊去食飯呀？ngo5 dou1 mei6 sik6, jat1 cai4 heoi3 sik6 faan6 aa3?I haven't eaten either, want to go eat together?
- 家明 Ka Ming好呀，等我一陣去搵你。hou2 aa3, dang2 ngo5 jat1 zan6 heoi3 wan2 nei5.Sure, I'll go find you in a bit.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
