打包 Takeout in Chinese

昨天zuótiān晚上wǎnshang，我wǒ和hé朋友péngyou去qù饭馆fànguǎn吃饭chīfàn，点diǎn了le很多hěn duō菜cài。

Last night, my friend and I went to a restaurant and ordered a lot of dishes.

我们wǒmen吃chī了le很久hěnjiǔ，都dōu很hěn饱bǎo了le，可是kěshì桌子zhuōzi上shàng还hái剩shèng很多hěn duō菜cài。

We ate for a long time and were both full, but there was still a lot of food left on the table.

朋友péngyou说shuō：“这么zhème多duō菜cài，不bù吃chī完wán太tài浪费làngfèi了le。”

My friend said: "So much food — it'd be too wasteful not to finish it."

我wǒ对duì服务员fúwùyuán说shuō：“我们wǒmen吃chī不bù完wán了le，可以kěyǐ打包dǎbāo吗ma？”

I said to the waiter: "We can't finish it all — can we get it packed to go?"

服务员fúwùyuán说shuō：“当然dāngrán可以kěyǐ，我wǒ马上mǎshàng给gěi你们nǐmen打包dǎbāo。”

The waiter said: "Of course, I'll pack it up for you right away."

服务员fúwùyuán很快hěnkuài就jiù把bǎ那些nàxiē菜cài都dōu打包dǎbāo好hǎo，我们wǒmen拿ná着zhe走zǒu出chū饭馆fànguǎn。

The waiter quickly packed up all the leftover food, and we carried it out of the restaurant.

回到huídào家jiā，我wǒ把bǎ打包dǎbāo的de菜cài放fàng在zài桌子zhuōzi上shàng，准备zhǔnbèi明天míngtiān中午zhōngwǔ再zài吃chī一次yí cì。

Back home, I put the packed food on the table, planning to eat it again tomorrow at noon.

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

Key words 生词

打包dǎbāoto pack up (leftover food) to go

剩shèngto have left over; remaining

浪费làngfèito waste

饱bǎofull (from eating)

当然dāngránof course

一次yí cìonce

可以 + verb + 吗？ (May I / can we ...?)

可以 before a verb, with 吗 at the end, politely asks for permission to do something.

可以打包吗？— Can we get this packed to go?

把 + object + verb + complement (do something to an object)

把 moves the object before the verb when you want to stress what happens to it — often followed by a result like 好, 完, or 走.

服务员把那些菜都打包好。— The waiter packed up all the leftover food.

太 + adjective + 了 (too ...)

太...了 wraps around an adjective to say something is excessively so.

这么多菜，不吃完太浪费了。— So much food — it'd be too wasteful not to finish it.

1. Why did they ask the waiter to pack up the food?

2. How did the waiter respond to the request?

3. What did the narrator plan to do with the food at home?

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.