HSK 4Lesson 17
Eating out means booking, waiting in line, ordering and paying. You will phone a restaurant for a quiet table, wait in line for fast food, settle a bill with a member discount, and find out how the school canteen card works.
You will learn to book a table, line up for a quick lunch, pay the bill with a discount and use the school canteen, and to count meals with the right measure word.
Part 1 · 15 new words
Contains 6 words
restaurant
fast food
main hall; lobby
seat
to book; to reserve
to line up
Contains 4 words
to pay the bill
cash
Contains 5 words
measure word for meals
canteen; dining hall
Part 2 · 8 phrases
周末这家餐厅人很多，你最好先打电话订座位。
This restaurant gets crowded on weekends, so you'd better call ahead and reserve a table.
买票的人很多，我们先排队，别着急。
There are lots of people buying tickets, so let's line up first and not rush.
吃完以后，每次都是他先去结账。
After we eat, he's always the first to go pay the bill.
我没带现金，可以用手机付钱吗？
I didn't bring any cash. Can I pay with my phone?
这件衣服在打折，比平时便宜二十块。
This jacket is on sale, twenty bucks cheaper than usual.
我一天吃三顿饭，早饭最简单。
I eat three meals a day, and breakfast is the simplest.
Part 3 · 4 conversations
Bai Jiayue phones a restaurant to book a table for six for her father's birthday lunch and asks for somewhere quieter than the main hall.
服务员Waiter
您好，北京餐厅。
Hello, Beijing Restaurant.
白家月Bai Jiayue
你好，我想订明天中午的座位，六个人，给我爸爸过生日。
Hello, I'd like to book a table for six tomorrow at noon, for my dad's birthday.
Part 4 · 1 point
动量词 顿
顿dùn is the measure word for a meal: 一顿饭yí dùn fàn, one meal. It can also follow a verb to count how many meals you eat.
Count meals
Use number + 顿dùn + 饭fàn.
to give a discount
to put money in; to save
Chinese food; lunch
lunch
teachers and students
学校食堂的午餐只要十块钱，米饭可以多吃。
The school canteen's lunch is only ten yuan, and you can have as much rice as you like.
我每个月存两百块钱，想买新手机。
I save two hundred yuan a month because I want to buy a new phone.
明天中午人比较多，现在只有大厅里的座位了。
Tomorrow at noon is quite busy; there are only seats left in the main hall.
白家月Bai Jiayue
大厅人太多，老人说话听不清楚。没有安静一点儿的吗？
There are too many people in the hall; the older people won't be able to hear each other. Is there nothing quieter?
服务员Waiter
里面那张桌子十二点半有人订了。您十一点来的话，可以坐那张，比较安静。
The table further inside is booked from half past twelve. If you come at eleven, you can have it; it's quieter.
白家月Bai Jiayue
十一点也可以，就订那张吧。
Eleven is fine too. Let's book that one.
服务员Waiter
好的，明天十一点，六位。请告诉我您的电话。
All right: tomorrow at eleven, six people. May I have your phone number?
白家月Bai Jiayue
一三九，六二三四，五六七八。
139 6234 5678.
At lunchtime Li Wen and Liu Ming find a long line at a fast-food place and decide whether it is worth waiting.
李文Li Wen
午餐时间人真多！要排队等多久？
So many people at lunchtime! How long will we have to wait in line?
刘明Liu Ming
大概十分钟。要不要换一家？
About ten minutes. Shall we go somewhere else?
李文Li Wen
别换了，旁边那家餐厅要等更久。这里是快餐，很快的。
Let's not. The restaurant next door has an even longer wait. This is fast food; it goes quickly.
刘明Liu Ming
好吧，那就排队。你想吃什么？
All right, let's line up then. What do you feel like?
李文Li Wen
这里的快餐是中餐，米饭加两个菜，十五块一份。我要一份。
The fast food here is Chinese: rice with two dishes, fifteen yuan a portion. I'll have one.
刘明Liu Ming
我也要一样的。上次你请我吃饭，这顿我请客。
I'll have the same. You treated me last time, so this meal is on me.
After dinner, Li Wen asks for the bill, gets the member discount and pays in cash.
李文Li Wen
服务员，结账。
Waiter, the bill please.
服务员Waiter
一共九十八块。您是会员吗？会员可以打折，便宜一些。
Ninety-eight yuan altogether. Are you a member? Members get a discount: ten percent off.
李文Li Wen
是，这是我的会员卡。
Yes, here is my membership card.
服务员Waiter
那是八十八块二。您用手机付还是付现金？
Then it's 88.20. Will you pay by phone or in cash?
李文Li Wen
我的手机没电了，付现金吧。
My phone is out of battery, so cash.
服务员Waiter
好，收您一百，找您十一块八。欢迎下次再来！
Right, 100 received, and 11.80 is your change. Please come again!
Anne, who has always eaten off campus, wants to treat Teacher Wang in the canteen and plans to pay cash; Liu Xiaoxue explains that it only takes the campus card.
安妮Anne
小雪，学校食堂老师也能去吗？我想请王老师吃午餐。
Xiaoxue, can teachers eat in the school canteen too? I'd like to treat Teacher Wang to lunch.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
能，师生都可以去，很多老师也在那儿吃午餐。
Yes, teachers and students can both go; many teachers have lunch there.
安妮Anne
比外面的餐厅便宜吧？我带了现金。
It's cheaper than restaurants outside, right? I've brought cash.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
便宜多了，可是食堂不收现金，要用校园卡。你得先往卡里存钱。
Much cheaper, but the canteen doesn't take cash; you use the campus card. You have to put money on it first.
安妮Anne
存多少好？
How much should I put on it?
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
我中午和晚上都在食堂吃，一天两顿，一个星期存一百块就行。
I have lunch and dinner in the canteen, two meals a day, and a hundred a week is enough.
安妮Anne
那我先存一百，明天中午就请王老师去吃一顿。
Then I'll put in a hundred first, and take Teacher Wang for a meal there tomorrow at noon.
In 一天三顿都在食堂吃yì tiān sān dùn dōu zài shítáng chī, 饭fàn is left out.
Have a meal
After 吃chī, put the number and 顿dùn after the verb.
明天中午就请王老师去吃一顿míngtiān zhōngwǔ jiù qǐng Wáng lǎoshī qù chī yí dùn: take her for a meal there tomorrow.
In sentences
Counting meals
工作太忙的时候，他一天只吃两顿饭。
When work is too busy, he only eats two meals a day.
两顿liǎng dùn counts meals.
After the verb
你帮了我这么多忙，我请你吃一顿饭吧。
You've helped me so much; let me treat you to a meal.
吃一顿chī yí dùn: number + 顿dùn after the verb.
Offering to pay
上次是你请的，这顿我请客。
You paid last time, so this meal is on me.
这顿zhè dùn points to the current meal.
A good meal
考试都结束了，我们去吃一顿好的吧！
The exams are all over; let's go and have a really good meal!
一顿好的yí dùn hǎo de: a whole, special meal.
A：今天中午你吃了几顿饭？ B：就一顿，我早上起得太晚了。
A: How many meals did you eat today? B: Just one; I got up too late this morning.
白家月想请爸爸吃一顿好的，所以给六个人订了座位。
Bai Jiayue wants to treat her father to a good meal, so she booked seats for six.
顿dùn counts meals as whole events. Put it after a number or after 这zhè or 那nà: 一天三顿饭yì tiān sān dùn fàn, three meals a day. After 吃chī, the number and 顿dùn come after the verb: 吃一顿chī yí dùn, to have a meal; you can add 饭fàn or leave it out when it is clear. Because 这顿zhè dùn means this meal as a whole, it is the natural way to offer to pay: 这顿我请客zhè dùn wǒ qǐngkè. 次cì only counts how many times something happens; for meals 顿dùn is the usual word. A common error is 一个饭yí ge fàn: say 一顿饭yí dùn fàn, or 一份饭yí fèn fàn for one portion you order. A common mistake is to use 顿dùn for any kind of food. Compare 一顿饭yí dùn fàn, a whole meal, with 一碗饭yì wǎn fàn, a bowl of rice, or 一次yí cì, which counts occasions: 顿dùn counts meals only. Do not say 三顿菜sān dùn cài; a dish is 一个菜yí ge cài.
