LessonsHSK 1 · Lesson 7
HSK 1 · Lesson 7 of 15
Something to eat
Food and drink: saying what you would like, ordering, and making suggestions. 20 words and 3 grammar points; tap the characters to hear them.
🔊 The sound in these lessons comes from your device’s own Mandarin voice, so it differs from device to device. Recorded audio will follow.
📚 Words
- Hán-Việt cật To eat: to have food or a meal.
- Hán-Việt hát To drink — water, tea, alcohol or any other liquid.
- Hán-Việt phạn Cooked rice, and by extension any meal.
- Hán-Việt mễ phạn Plain cooked rice: the rice itself, never a whole meal.
- Hán-Việt miến điều nhi Noodles, usually made from wheat flour.
- Hán-Việt bao tử A steamed bun with a filling, usually minced pork or vegetables, eaten for breakfast or as a snack.
- Hán-Việt giảo tử Dumplings: a thin flour wrapper folded around a filling of meat or vegetables, usually boiled.
- Hán-Việt miến bao Bread, in any form: a loaf, a roll or a slice.
- Hán-Việt kê đản A hen's egg: the ordinary egg you buy, cook and eat.
- Hán-Việt tần quả An apple, the fruit; also the name of the phone and computer brand.
- Hán-Việt thuỷ quả Fruit in general, as food: apples, oranges, bananas and so on.
- Hán-Việt ngưu nãi Cow's milk, the ordinary milk people drink.
- Hán-Việt trà Tea — the drink and the plant.
- Hán-Việt thuỷ Water, the liquid of rain, rivers and the tap.
- Hán-Việt thái Vegetables, and also a dish: any cooked food eaten with rice.
- Hán-Việt tảo phạn Breakfast, the first meal of the day.
- Hán-Việt ngọ phạn Lunch, the midday meal.
- Hán-Việt vãn phạn Dinner, the evening meal.
- Hán-Việt tố phạn To cook, to make a meal at home.
- Hán-Việt hảo cật Tasty, delicious: said of food that is good to eat.
🧩 Grammar
想 and 要: "would like" and "want"
想 + verb is the gentle "would like to": 我想喝茶 "I'd like some tea". 要 is firmer, "want", and it is how you order: 我要一杯茶 "I'll have a cup of tea". The negative of both is usually 不想, because 不要 more often means "don't!" (lesson 15).
- I'd like to have dumplings.
- I'll have a cup of tea.
- I don't feel like eating.
吧 for suggestions
吧 at the end of a sentence turns it into a suggestion: 我们吃饭吧 "Let's eat". After a request it softens it: 你喝水吧 "Have some water".
- Let's have noodles.
- Have a little water.
好 + verb: good to eat, good to see
好 "good" before a verb makes an adjective: 好吃 "tasty" (good to eat). The same pattern gives 好看 "good-looking" and 好听 "nice to hear" (lesson 14).
- This dish is delicious.
🎯 Practice
The drill below uses only this lesson’s words. Switch the kind of drill:
Context clues Match the meaning Listen & type Fill the blank Put in order Hán-Việt bridge
Open the full practice page → · All 300 HSK 1 words