# Take your time!



## yuechu

大家好！

I offered to take one of my roommates to a coffee shop since we plan to study there later. After asking if he wants to go, and he said yes, I wanted to tell him to take his time eating (no rush!) since he was having supper later than me.
How would you say this in Chinese? 你先慢慢吃？不急？
Thanks!


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## RA-Horakthy

慢点吃别着急。if you add先, it means you are leaving, without 先it means you are sitting with him and watching him eatin


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## yuechu

RA-Horakthy said:


> if you add先, it means you are leaving, without 先it means you are sitting with him and watching him eatin


Oh! I didn't know this! (Actually, maybe I use it like this already but hadn't made the connection!)



RA-Horakthy said:


> 慢点吃别着急。


I like your version much better. Thanks again for your help, RA-Horakthy!


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## RA-Horakthy

Glad you found it helpful~


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## SuperXW

RA-Horakthy said:


> 慢点吃别着急。if you add先, it means you are leaving, without 先it means you are sitting with him and watching him eatin


That is an interesting topic:
你先吃 means "I'm gonna leave";
我先走了 means "I'm gonna leave" too!

先 means "first".
In 你先吃 it implies "you eat first, do other things later; while I'm going to take care of other things first."
If I want to suggest eating together, I should say 咱们先吃, not 你先吃.


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## yuechu

Good to know! Thanks, SuperXW!


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## SimonTsai

你慢慢吃，不急。

I, personally, do not readily accept @RA-Horakthy's suggestion: '慢點吃' sounds a wee bit off.


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## albert_laosong

agree，慢点吃 is used by a parent to tell a kid not to eat too quickly.  慢慢吃，不急/不着急 is used to tell someone to take his time eating, no rush.


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## RA-Horakthy

SuperXW said:


> 先 means "first".


先Means many things in English, and sometimes it's just an add on that makes the sentence means slightly different. It's probably a cultural differences though, that 先 probably only meant first in HongKong?


SimonTsai said:


> 你慢慢吃，不急。
> 
> 慢點吃' sounds a wee bit off.


well in Taiwan 慢慢吃 is more properly spoken for the tone. 慢点儿吃 is  more wildly used in mainland, since, if you speak in in the mainland tone, 慢慢吃 sounds like you are leaving. To be honest I'll understand both since they don't have much different, but慢慢吃 will make me a little confused.


albert_laosong said:


> 慢点吃 is used by a parent to tell a kid not to eat too quickly.  慢慢吃，不急/不着急 is used to tell someone to take his time eating, no rush.


I see no differences, people in my town rarely use 慢慢吃 in most situations cause it sounds off. In South part of China there might be more use of Reduplicated words but... If you say 慢慢吃 in Northeast China, you'll give away that you are not local.


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## albert_laosong

RA-Horakthy said:


> I see no differences, people in my town rarely use 慢慢吃 in most situations cause it sounds off. In South part of China there might be more use of Reduplicated words but... If you say 慢慢吃 in Northeast China, you'll give away that you are not local.


It's also ok to say 慢点吃，不着急，but I think it's mostly used when you see the other one is eating too quickly, you are worried he might choke himself, so you remind him, 慢点吃，不着急, we still got plenty of time.

however, really it's not that big a difference, I won't feel weird or anything if someone uses 慢点吃，不着急 in contexts where I prefer 慢慢吃，不着急.


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## RA-Horakthy

albert_laosong said:


> however, really it's not that big a difference


Yea, probably just how people talk in different areas make a different


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## albert_laosong

RA-Horakthy said:


> In South part of China there might be more use of Reduplicated words but... If you say 慢慢吃 in Northeast China, you'll give away that you are not local.


I'm from Xi'an, duplicate words are common here, but really I'm not sure about Northeast China


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## RA-Horakthy

东北叠词用的比较少，基本上儿化音占全部


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## SuperXW

RA-Horakthy said:


> 先Means many things in English, and sometimes it's just an add on that makes the sentence means slightly different. It's probably a cultural differences though, that 先 probably only meant first in HongKong?


All meanings of 先 derive from "first" (including "priority" etc.). I have already explained why it makes sense in both cases. "Just an add on" and "cultural difference" have their origins.
你先吃，背后的意思是：你稍后再考虑其它事情。而我既然不说“咱们先吃”，就意味着我和你做出不同的选择了。
这里的“先”仍然表示first，是相对于其它事情而言。


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## RA-Horakthy

SuperXW said:


> 这里的“先”仍然表示first，是相对于其它事情而言。


Well I don’t know why this is related to the question... But we certainly don't think of wedding rings as imprisonment since they meant the same thing in very ancient time. Well I do agree with you the majority use of 先 is similar to first, but this time zone is not so consistent during conversations. For example, 先生 means sir, though the root of this word is the man born before you, but we don't tend to think that way. 先人 is the people before us, but not the first people. That's one of the many troubles I faced when translate haha, sometimes word to word isn’5 the best optoion~~ XD


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## SuperXW

Because you said "if you add先, it means you are leaving, without 先it means you are sitting with him and watching him eating".
I don't think this is a strict rule, not even a good rule of thumb. For example, a mom tells her son 你先吃 may not mean she's leaving, and I can also say 你慢慢吃 without 先 while I'm leaving.
I would prefer a deeper understanding of 先 to explain relative usages.


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## Lianxin

_慢点吃_, _别着急_。


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## Skatinginbc

「慢點吃」的「點」是「些」的意思，暗示「比較」：叫人放慢速度，比現在的速度更慢一些，別吃得這麼快。 ==> 前提是你認為他狼吞虎嚥，吃得太快、太急了。

假如對方才剛答應一起走，還沒機會加速或急著吃, 你就預先提醒不用急，那麼，應是「慢慢吃，不急」。==> 意思是你可以保持悠閒或正常的速度。


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