How to Say ‘Have you eaten breakfast?’ in Traditional Chinese
你吃早餐了嗎？
nǐ chī zǎo cān le ma
[nee chih dzaow tsahn le mah]
🇹🇼 In Taiwan: Asking whether someone has eaten works as a caring hello, not a meal invitation. A quick "yes, thanks" is all that's expected.
Phrase Breakdown
你吃
nǐ chī
you eat
你 (nǐ) means 'you' and 吃 (chī) means 'eat'. 吃 is a high, flat first tone with a retroflex 'ch' sound.
你吃什麼？
What are you eating?
Words in this phrase
你
nǐ
[nee]
you
A common singular pronoun meaning "you."
你好嗎？
How are you?
吃
chī
[chih]
to eat
Used with 有 to form a natural question: 有吃…嗎？ ‘Have you eaten…?’
你有吃湯圓嗎？
Did you eat tangyuan (sweet rice balls)?
早餐了嗎？
zǎo cān le ma
breakfast yet?
早餐 (zǎocān) means 'breakfast'. 了嗎 (le ma) turns the sentence into 'have you ... yet?'. Both particles are light, neutral tones.
他吃早餐了嗎？
Has he eaten breakfast?
Words in this phrase
早餐
zǎo cān
[dzaow tsahn]
breakfast
The morning meal, usually the first meal of the day.
我今天有吃早餐。
I ate breakfast today.
了
le
[le]
completed action marker
Indicates an action has been completed.
他已經走了。
He has already left.
嗎
ma
[mah]
question particle (yes/no questions)
Used at the end of a sentence to ask a yes/no question. In holiday talk: 有吃年夜飯嗎？
你有吃年夜飯嗎？
Did you have the New Year’s Eve reunion dinner?
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