我不吃肉。我没有现金。
I do not eat meat. I do not have cash.
Day 10 of 57 · Week 2 · Human survival
Order and customize
Ask about spice, request less chili, and ask for chopsticks. Hear the difference between this item and that item.
Start with the guided teaching
You want beef noodles, know the price, and need to answer a follow-up about spice.
Build a food word from pieces: 牛肉 = beef; 面 = noodles in this menu. 牛肉面 = beef noodles. This helps with familiar combinations; a dish name cannot reveal every ingredient or cooking method.
Read a menu and order a meal — complete guided explanation
Do the work in five passes
- Listen and pronounce — 25 min · shadow 6 phrases; compare a recording.
- Read and recognize — 25 min · complete the guided teaching, then read today’s words.
- Build and speak — 25 min · build a guided request; then make 10 variations.
- Solve a situation — 25 min · practice both sides, then hide the hints.
- Retrieve and review — 20–80 min · due review, quizzes, and a spoken recap.
Completion records effort; quiz results measure recognition. Neither proves conversational fluency. Use the interactive trainer for review scheduling and saved progress.
Today’s sentence machinery
Not: 不 and 没
Use 不 for general negation, preferences and future intentions. Use 没 for not having or an action that did not happen; 有 is negated as 没有.
Different jobs: general not versus not-have / did-not.
Your language for today
一瓶水。
A bottle of water.
one + bottle + water
一碗米饭。
A bowl of rice.
one + bowl + cooked rice
一碗面条。
A bowl of noodles.
one + bowl + noodles
我要饺子。
I'd like dumplings.
I + want + dumplings
鸡肉
Chicken
chicken + meat
牛肉
Beef
cow + meat
猪肉
Pork
pig + meat
鱼
Fish
fish
Practice the situation
Restaurant
You want a meal, need to check spice, and then pay.
你想吃什么？
What would you like to eat?
A useful response
我要饺子。
Order the dumplings.
要辣的吗？
Would you like the spicy version?
A useful response
不要辣。
Decline the spicy version.
还需要什么？
Do you need anything else?
A useful response
我想要一杯水。
Ask for a glass of water.
吃完了吗？
Have you finished eating?
A useful response
买单，谢谢。
Ask for the bill.
Outside the trainer: spend 10–20 minutes repeating these exchanges with a Mandarin speaker when available. Ask them to change one reply so you must listen. Fixed audio and scenarios cannot reproduce every real conversation.