# 你吃了沒有



## kevsgirlalways

Hi, 

Just wondering, "Ni chi le mei you?" is "Have you eaten?" in mandarin, right? Is this right;
ni = you
chi le = eaten (??)
mei you = ~what's 'mei you' in this context?

hope someone can enlighten me..hehe..thx!


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## zeatadu

You are quite right!
ni chi le mei you=have you eaten.
And NI你=You
CHI吃=eat,CHI LE吃了=eaten(The past tense of eat)
MEI YOU没有=MA吗（interrogative word in the sentence).
You could express it also by "ni chi le ma?"

For this sentence,the literal meaning is "have you eaten".But generally,we use this expression as an regard to the friends who have close relationship with you.It's an informal expression of regard.

Next time when you meet your Chinese classmate,you could ask her"ni chi le ma?"instead of "ni hao"


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## daoxunchang

But surely we don't say this when we met in the street. In fact, we seldom say this now, at least among the university students around me, though it's often quoted as a classic greeting phrase of we Chinese.
Back to the sentence, I tend to say just (你)可吃了 to a relatively familiar acquaitance. But it was observed once by a former classmate of mine who was studying in the northeast China that the use of 可 for the function of questioning is a southner's thing. More examples: 你可到了？Have you arrived?
Examples with 没有/吗 for interrogative: 你把这个给了他没有/吗？Have you given this to him? Using 没有 here conveys a more strong interrogative sense. In this sentence 了 also indicates a question about a past action. 
Hope this helps.


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## linguist786

To put it from a learner's perspective:

There are several ways of forming yes/no questions in Chinese.

1. Ending the sentence with 吗 _ma _- you will probably know this already.
Examples:
_- Nĭ huì shuō zhōng wén *ma*?_ (Can you speak Chinese?)
_- Nĭ chī le *ma*?_ (Have you eaten?)

2. Using the verb twice with 不 (_bù__)_ in the middle (for present tense*) and 没 (_méi) _for past.
Examples:
_- Nĭ *huì bú huì* shuō zhōng wén?_ (Can you speak Chinese? lit. "You can (or) cannot speak Chinese?")
_- Nĭ *chī méi chī* le?_ (Have you eaten? lit. "You eaten (or) not eaten?")

*The verb 有 _yŏu _(to have) is an exeption to the rule. You never say 不有 (_bù yŏu_) but 没有 (_méi yŏu_)

3. (This is for the past only) Ending the sentence with 没有 (_méi yŏu_).
Examples:
- _Nĭ shuō zhōng wén le *méi yŏu*?_ (Did you speak Chinese?). The same thing could be expressed by using number (2) - _Nĭ *shuō méi shuō* zhōng wén le?_
- _Nĭ chī le *méi yŏu*?_ (Have you eaten?)

(Correct me if I've said something wrong or misleading)


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## daoxunchang

You are completely right


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## zeatadu

linguist786 said:


> To put it from a learner's perspective:
> [...]


Your summary is great!
But,for these two sentences,
- Nĭ chī méi chī le? (Have you eaten? lit. "You eaten (or) not eaten?")
- Nĭ shuō méi shuō zhōng wén le?
Actually we don't add "le" to the end.


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## Kwunlam

zeatadu said:


> - Nĭ shuō méi shuō zhōng wén le?
> Actually we don't add "le" to the end.


I found that 「你說沒說中文」 sounds a bit uncommon to me. If I would ask, whether you DID use Chinese yesterday or during a past event, i would say:

你有沒有說中文呢？ ni3 you3mei2you3 shuo4 zhong1wen2 ne ?


zeatadu said:


> _Nĭ shuō zhōng wén le *méi yŏu*? _(Did you speak Chinese?).


 
Do we say normally in English "Have you spoken Chinese already?" ? Well, I am not sure sure. But maybe we can try "Have you begun speaking Chinese already" in Chinese:
你開始學中文了沒有 ? 　［have you begun learning Chinese?]

other cases:
嬰兒開始說話了沒有？ [ has the baby begun speaking ? ]

If you want to say "Did you speak Chinese (yesterday)?", you may consider:
你昨天有沒有說中文呢？   [Did you speak Chinese yesterday?
嬰兒昨天有沒有哭呢？    [Did the baby cry yesterday ? )


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## zeatadu

If you want to say "Did you speak Chinese (yesterday)?", you may consider:
你昨天有沒有說中文呢？ [Did you speak Chinese yesterday?

In this case,I think the sectence "你说没说中文[ni3 shuo1 mei2 shuo1 zhong1 wen2]is the same.

To be more idiomatic,I would like to be more specific and replace the word "speak".
你昨天有没有练习说中文?[Did you practice speaking Chinese yesterday?]
or.
你的演讲中有没有用中文？[Did you speak Chinese in your speech?]


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## linguist786

In my Chinese lesson today, I noticed another way to say this. I remembered this thread!

nĭ chī guó le ma? (Have you eaten?)

My teacher said (although her English isn't brilliant) that "nĭ chī le ma?" means "Did you eat?"

What do natives think?


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## Jean1008

I agree with your teacher.
"chī guó" here means "have eaten". ==> present participle
You use "guó" when you have already done something.

Jean


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## univerio

The above posts are quite misleading in that
你说没说中文?
means "Did you speak Chinese?" It does, but in the sense of "Did you speak Chinese (at a specific event in the past)?"

The proper way to say "Do you speak Chinese (in general)?" is
你说*不*说中文?

And 你吃了吗? is more colloquial and much more commonly used in Beijing than anywhere else.


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## piano0011

I am confused here. I have been taught that we should mainly say:

 ni3 chi1 le ma? instead of ni3 chi1 guo4 le ma?

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't guo4 means that I have experienced something previously as in:

Ni3 qu4 guo4 Zhong1guo2 ma?

Also for the following sentence, I have been taught to say:

Ni3 chi1 shen2me le?

Can I also say?

Ni3 chi1 le shen2me?


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