# I would like to order 3/4 of a pound of ...



## yuechu

大家好！

I was recently ordering some 叉烧 takeout (in Mandarin) at a Chinese restaurant. The person I was ordering it for wanted 3/4 of a pound to 1 pound of (lean) 叉烧. I kind of stumbled through it in Chinese, but wasn't sure how to put the Chinese words together properly.
Would anyone know how to translate this to Chinese?
Thanks!


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## Jack12345

pound 英镑, 100 penny
pound 磅，0.37kg or 0.45kg
It's not used in mainland.
我要订3/4（磅/四分之三磅）到1磅（重）的瘦肉叉烧（包）。
我要订75到100便士的瘦肉叉烧包。
Just make a joy .


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## corner1912

我想要一份3/4磅到1磅重的瘦肉叉烧（why 3/4 of a pound to 1 pound，is it inseparable? ）


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## SimonTsai

An imperial pound is about 453,59 grammes.
A Taiwanese catty is equivalent to 600 grammes.
A Taiwanese catty is defined as 16 Taiwanese taels.

So, your friend wanted about 9 to 12 Taiwanese taels of meat. You could say,

那，我要叉燒肉，瘦的，外帶，半斤再多一些，四百公克左右。謝謝。​


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## retrogradedwithwind

中国人不说“四分之三斤”，中国人说“七两半”（一斤=10两时）。
如果想要的数量介于“四分之三斤”到“一斤”，中国人会说“八九两”，“小一斤”。
小一斤=比一斤稍微少一点的量，比如八九两。


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## SuperXW

If the restaurant is in China and using an electronic scale, it's better for you to ask with the International System of Units: g(克) / kg(千克).
There's no concept of "quarter" and "pound" in China.


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your help!  谢谢！
The restaurant is in Canada, which is why I'm using "pounds". In China though, I would usually use 斤 or 公斤.

EDIT: Oh, sorry for the confusion! I just realized that a "pound" in the UK is also a monetary unit. I was referring to the weight (or mass) and not the monetary unit.


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## SuperXW

yuechu said:


> The restaurant is in Canada, which is why I'm using "pounds".


In that case, I would expect they communicate with you in English.   
Saying 四分之三磅 (3/4 pound) may be ok in that restaurant, but really weird in China.


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## forgoodorill

SuperXW said:


> Saying 四分之三磅 (3/4 pound) may be ok in that restaurant, but really weird in China.





retrogradedwithwind said:


> 中国人不说“四分之三斤”





retrogradedwithwind said:


> 中国人说“七两半”（一斤=10两时）


I highly doubt someone will say this in China.
Even 七八兩 is still rare. 
The expression uses 半 often in 斤半

Chinese usually say these expressions below:
1.老闆，麻煩給我稱半斤這個糖
2.要兩斤就行，謝謝
3.要5塊錢的豆腐---------豆腐是稱斤的，請和下一個例子中的“油條”比較
4：要兩塊錢的油條------油條通常是一塊X根

etc

這個問題比較生活化，所以以下舉幾個例子，希望促進理解：

（1）
A: 老李，現在西瓜多少錢（一斤）------------This happens when someone asks for others who bought something and curious about the price of the thing he or she bought
B：（我）十塊買的。。。我看看發票。。嗯。。2斤半。。一斤5塊-----*-PS*:*這個我胡算的*
A：好嘞

（2）
A：切糕，切糕，新鮮的切糕
B：多少錢（一斤）
A：（磨刀霍霍）嗯，就三十。您看，裡面什麼都有，營養豐富，老少皆宜。自從我吃了這個切糕，腰也不酸了，腿也不疼了，跳樓也有勁了
B：哦，行，從這裡麻煩切一刀。。對。。。對。。就貼這裡。。就要這一點就行了。。太多了也吃不了
A：好的。給您稱一下。總共是50W。您是現金還是刷卡，這裡還支持房產證抵押

如果說在那裡用“兩”比較多，我暫時能想到的，就是在飯局之中：
A：老公，你怎麼醉成這樣了？
B：今。。。今天。機會難得，趙總下來視察，我他媽得把握這個機會啊。喝了一點兒。。。一點兒
A：你這哪是一點啊。最少也有七八兩吧。。

注意：以上的討論範圍，僅限於以“稱斤”為計量單位的交易行為。其他，例如：以一箱奶為購買對象，大部分人不會去計算一斤是多少；當然，有專門以“斤”為單位售賣的，另當別論，屬於以上的討論範圍。


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## yuechu

Thanks for your replies, SuperXW and Forgoodorill! 



SuperXW said:


> Saying 四分之三磅 (3/4 pound) may be ok in that restaurant, but really weird in China.


I've asked how much vegetables are in a Chinese grocery store here and asked 多少钱一斤 and the woman corrected me and said that it should be 一磅 and not 一斤 (since they are slightly different measurements). I think that Chinese people here do use "pounds" in Chinese to measure. Perhaps not everyone though! Or do you mean it sounds weird because of the 四分之三 part of it?


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## Jack12345

yuechu said:


> Or do you mean it sounds weird because of the 四分之三 part of it?


Both of them. 
In China, there is no concept of pound. There use kg（公斤） or jin（斤, half of kilogram = 10 两）.
And no one will use 3/4 kg or jin to express the weight. You may say 0.75 kg, or 7两多，不到1斤. But we always say 7两 or 8两, then sellers will sell a little more than it. If you say 7两多, sellers will sell more than you want, perhaps 九两半. It's 生意经 in Chinese.


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## yuechu

Jack12345 said:


> But we always say 7两 or 8两, then sellers will sell a little more than it. If you say 7两多, sellers will sell more than you want, perhaps 九两半. It's 生意经 in Chinese.


haha. OK! I'll have to remember that! Thanks!

So could I say "我要7两多到一磅瘦肉叉烧“？


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## Jack12345

yuechu said:


> So could I say "我要7两多到一磅瘦肉叉烧“？


Oh, that's two kinks of weight unit. If I heard it, I would be confused.
In Canada , you should use your local weight unit pound but not 斤 or 两.


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## forgoodorill

Jack12345 said:


> Both of them.
> In China, there is no concept of pound. There use kg（公斤） or jin（斤, half of kilogram = 10 两）.


最常見的是“斤”，小商贩等一般用'斤'，大型超市一般标示的价格单位为公斤:kg


Jack12345 said:


> You may say 0.75 kg, or 7两多，不到1斤. But we always say 7两 or 8两, then sellers will sell a little more than it. If you say 7两多, sellers will sell more than you want, perhaps 九两半. It's 生意经 in Chinese.


Jack12345, 你太小看做生意的了 
一般不到一斤，會用以下兩種表達方法：
1.麻煩稱一點嘗嘗
2.要半斤就行

But some sellers will give you more than that and say :多了，六兩半了
If you insist on how many you want, he or she will satisfy your demand.
But please notice, if you want 一斤,  nearly all sellers won't give you exactly 500g. I mean, the measurement just a reference.



yuechu said:


> So could I say "我要7两多到一磅瘦肉叉烧“？


yuechu， 這個，需要看你想買的叉燒是按照什麼方式售賣的
如果是論（按）個賣， 你只需要說：
老闆，來兩個叉燒 
or
老闆，來100塊的叉燒--------這種情況下，默認一定數量的錢可以買一定數量的叉燒。例如：10元2個

如果是論（按）斤賣，你可以說：

老闆，麻煩稱半斤叉燒
or
老闆，要50塊的叉燒-----------這跟第一種情況不同，這裡默認論斤賣


Please notice most of us just say 半斤，一斤，we do not say 七兩，八兩。 Please see my explanation above
If you really want 7兩多， just say
老闆，不要太多，幫忙稱半斤多點就行------please notice that we do not say 幫忙來一斤不到叉燒


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## yuechu

Jack12345 said:


> Oh, that's two kinks of weight unit. If I heard it, I would be confused.
> In Canada , you should use your local weight unit pound but not 斤 or 两.


Oh, you're right. Thanks for the correction!

@forgoodorill 
Excellent! That helps me a lot. Thanks, Forgoodorill!


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## SuperXW

Chinese people in Canada should use the local units, otherwise it will be too hard to convert.


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