Food and drink in Mandarin

MFL, Mandarin vocabulary. Usually met in years 7 to 11.

Learn Mandarin words for meals, food and drink, written in simplified characters with pinyin.

What you practise

Reading the meaning of characters
Choosing the characters for an English word
Words with and without the pinyin shown

Starts with everyday words shown with pinyin and moves to characters on their own. Practice moves up a level when a round goes well and down when it does not.

Sample questions

Each sample comes with the method and the reason every wrong option is wrong. Real practice rounds are ten questions at your level.

Sample question, level 2 of 5

What does 午饭 (wǔ fàn) mean?

coffee
fish
evening meal
lunch
tasty

Show the answer and method

Answer: D, lunch

The method: 午饭 (wǔ fàn) means ‘lunch’.

Why the other options are wrong:

A, coffee: ‘coffee’ is 咖啡 (kā fēi).
B, fish: ‘fish’ is 鱼 (yú).
C, evening meal: ‘evening meal’ is 晚饭 (wǎn fàn).
E, tasty: ‘tasty’ is 好吃 (hǎo chī).

Sample question, level 4 of 5

What does 健康 mean?

sweet
healthy
thirsty
breakfast
vegetables

Show the answer and method

Answer: B, healthy

The method: 健康 (jiàn kāng) means ‘healthy’.

Why the other options are wrong:

A, sweet: ‘sweet’ is 甜 (tián).
C, thirsty: ‘thirsty’ is 渴 (kě).
D, breakfast: ‘breakfast’ is 早饭 (zǎo fàn).
E, vegetables: ‘vegetables’ is 蔬菜 (shū cài).

See where this fits: every language topic and Key Stage 3.