吃饭
chīfàn
To eat in Chinese is 吃饭 (chīfàn).
While the single character 吃 means 'to eat', the phrase 吃饭 is the standard way to express the act of sitting down to eat a meal.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is a verb-object construction where 吃 (chī) means 'to eat' and 饭 (fàn) means 'meal' or 'cooked rice'.
How does it change in a sentence?
To express that an action happens after eating, you can use the structure 吃了饭 (chīle fàn, literally 'ate meal') followed by the subsequent action.
How do you pronounce it?
chīfàn
When do people say it?
Asking 吃饭了吗？ (chīfàn le ma?, 'Have you eaten?') is a common Chinese greeting used to show care or friendliness, rather than a literal inquiry into one's hunger.
Did you know?
- While 吃 (chī) means 'to eat', you can use it for things you cannot actually swallow, such as 吃醋 (chī cù), which means 'to be jealous' (literally 'to eat vinegar').
- In many Chinese dialects, the phrase 吃饭 (chīfàn) can be used as a euphemism for 'making a living' or 'earning a paycheck'.
- The character 吃 (chī) is composed of a radical meaning 'mouth' and a phonetic component, illustrating how the language visually categorizes actions performed by the mouth.
Examples in context
- 你不想吃饭吗？Wouldn't you like to eat?This sentence is useful for practicing the use of 吃饭 in a negative question.Tatoeba #419698 by GlossaMatik, translation #419692 by Alkrasnov
- 你吃面条还是吃饭？Do you want to eat noodles or rice?This sentence is useful for practicing a choice between two options using 吃饭.Tatoeba #1477275 by GlossaMatik, translation #1477322 by CM
- 我没有吃饭的时间。I had no time to eat.This sentence is useful for practicing the use of 吃饭 in the context of time.Tatoeba #10273873 by miaojiandao, translation #249928 by CK
- 我们一起吃吧Let's eat together
- 我们出去吃饭吧Let's go out to eat
- 13 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two colleagues are deciding what to do during their lunch break.
- 雨婷 Yuting浩然，你饿了吗？Hàorán, nǐ è le ma?Haoran, are you hungry?
- 浩然 Haoran有点饿，我们要去吃饭吗？Yǒudiǎn è, wǒmen yào qù chīfàn ma?A little bit, are we going to eat?
- 雨婷 Yuting对，我们现在去吃饭吧。Duì, wǒmen xiànzài qù chīfàn ba.Yes, let's go eat now.
- 浩然 Haoran好，走吧。Hǎo, zǒu ba.Okay, let's go.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
