喝茶还是咖啡 Tea or Coffee?

上午shàngwǔ我wǒ喜欢xǐhuan喝hē咖啡kāfēi，下午xiàwǔ我wǒ喜欢xǐhuan喝hē茶chá。

In the morning I like to drink coffee; in the afternoon I like to drink tea.

今天jīntiān朋友péngyou来lái我wǒ家jiā。

Today a friend comes to my home.

我wǒ说shuō：“你nǐ喝hē茶chá还是háishi喝hē咖啡kāfēi？”

I say, "Would you like tea or coffee?"

他tā说shuō：“我wǒ不bù喝hē咖啡kāfēi，我wǒ爱ài喝hē热rè茶chá。”

He says, "I don't drink coffee — I love hot tea."

我们wǒmen一起yìqǐ喝hē茶chá，都dōu很hěn高兴gāoxìng。

We drink tea together, and we are both very happy.

🔊 Audio uses your device's Chinese voice for now — teacher recordings are coming. Tap any word to see its meaning.

Key words 生词

咖啡kāfēicoffee

还是háishior (in questions)

茶chátea

热rèhot

一起yìqǐtogether

高兴gāoxìnghappy

A 还是 B — 'or' in questions

还是 offers a choice between two options and makes the sentence a question by itself — no 吗 needed: 你喝茶还是喝咖啡？

你去还是不去？— Are you going or not?

都 — both; all

都 comes after the subject and before the verb: 我们都很高兴 = we are both very happy.

他们都是学生。— They are all students.

1. What does the narrator like to drink in the morning?

2. What does the friend want to drink?

3. Who comes to the narrator's home today?

After this reading

I'm Fei, and I teach Mandarin one-on-one on Preply. Bring this text to a trial lesson — we'll fix your tones and turn it into a real conversation.