# to eat / drink soup



## Aoyama

Many languages (mostly European) use the verb *eat *for soup (a liquid food but originally more like a kind of stew).
French say : manger (de) la soupe, English will say : eat soup.
Other languages will use the verb *drink *(drink your soup).
One example , Japanese : "soup wo nomu" (スープを飲む).
Any other examples of *eat* or *drink* ?


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## Maroseika

Russians also usually eat their soups. Drinking is also possible but in the particular cases (in harmony with the soup nature).


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## sokol

In German we also eat our soup (Suppe *essen*).


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## Aoyama

> Drinking is also possible but in the particular cases (in harmony with the soup nature).


Right, though it may not be a soup anymore (a consommé, a clear bouillon, a "vichyssoise"). What about borshcht ?


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## Awwal12

> Right, though it may not be a soup anymore (a consommé, a clear bouillon, a "vichyssoise"). What about borshcht ?


I can imagine "drinking" of a bouillon only (but it hardly can be called a soup after all). The borshcht is surely being eaten.


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## kiuz

also in italy is used eat the soup (mangiare la minestra)!


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## Awwal12

Well, I suppose there is some general rule, at least in Russian:
- one usually "drinks" from a cup, a mug, a glass or something like that - and without direct use of additional tableware (spoons, forks etc.).
- if the process doesn't fit to the previous explanation - it is "eating".


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## sokol

Well I'd say that your rule applies also for German, Awwal - if you put soup in a thermos flask in order to keep it hot when hiking (so that you'll have a warm meal) you could say that you "drink" the soup ("trinken" in German).
To use "trinken" in German would be marked - but not impossible; and it seems the same is the case for Russian (?).

So even though probably this is not a universal rule it could be "fairly universal".


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## Maroseika

And what's about English 'to sup' (Russian хлебать)? To what category we can refer these terms? At least in Russian (and believe, in English as well) it is used for gulping the soup down as with spoon as without it.


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## XiaoRoel

En _español_ se usa *tomar*, _tomar la sopa_. En _gallego_ (del diasistema gallegoportugués) se dice _tomar a sopa_, _comer a sopa_ o, _muy común_, *comer na sopa*.


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## sokol

XiaoRoel said:


> En _español_ se usa *tomar*, _tomar la sopa_. En _gallego_ (del diasistema gallegoportugués) se dice _tomar a sopa_, _comer a sopa_ o, _muy común_, *comer na sopa*.


Do you know whether the same is used in American Spanish? (As in my experience, and especially with the verb "tomar", Peninsular and American Spanish differ with the use of some verbs.)


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## Awwal12

> And what's about English 'to sup' (Russian хлебать)? To what category we can refer these terms?


The Russian "хлебать" is mostly colloquial. Let's sort out the formal terms first.


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## jazyk

In Portuguese:
tomar sopa (lit. to take/drink soup), but the verb beber (to drink), which is synonymous with tomar in many contexts, isn't used in this case


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## swift

sokol said:


> Do you know whether the same is used in American Spanish? (As in my experience, and especially with the verb "tomar", Peninsular and American Spanish differ with the use of some verbs.)



Hello Sokol,

In Costa Rican Spanish, "comer sopa" is more usual than "tomar sopa". When I was a child, I always felt confused when I heard my classmates and relatives say "comer sopa". However, it seems that "comer sopa" is not widespread in American Spanish.

The main difference between Pensinsular and American Spanish is related to tomar/coger (reach out for something and hold it).  I would be very surprised if somebody said "beber sopa"...

Regards,


swift


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## Agró

Hola Swift.
*Beber sopa*:
Resultados *1* - *10* de aproximadamente *2.050* de *"beber sopa"*

No parece tan raro. A mí no me causaría sorpresa oírlo (quizá porque "beber el caldo" es bastante normal por aquí).


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## swift

Hola Agró:

Me da gusto coincidir contigo. 

Yo no le hago caso a las ocurrencias de Google.  En todo caso, supongo que no es inusual. Digo que a mí me sorprendería porque no lo uso de ese modo. Bebo el caldo, no la sopa (con todo y verduras).

Saludos,


swift


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## Agró

swift said:


> Hola Agró:
> 
> Me da gusto coincidir contigo.
> 
> Yo no le hago caso a las ocurrencias de Google.  En todo caso, supongo que no es inusual. Digo que a mí me sorprendería porque no lo uso de ese modo. Bebo el caldo, no la sopa (con todo y verduras).
> 
> Saludos,
> 
> 
> swift


He editado mi anterior comentario porque la búsqueda estuvo muy mal hecha. Los resultados son mucho menos.
Saludos.


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## Aoyama

The discussion about Spanish "tomar" (to take) is a bit different. As far as I know, _tomar_ can be used also for a meal (as in "take a meal", "take a breakfast [somewhere]"), same as in French (prendre un repas) and probably Italian ...
But then, you would not say in English or in French (to give two examples, there must be more) "take your soup".
You would take your medecine (in that sense), maybe take your tea/coffee ...


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## Favara

In Catalan it's "to eat" (_menjar_): _Menja sopa, menja't la sopa_. I guess you could say "drink" if you put it in a cup.
We can also use _prendre_, meaning "to take" (like Spanish "tomar").
Or a verb referring to the time of the day when we're eating the soup: _dinar_ (to eat for lunch), _sopar_ (to eat for dinner). _Dinar sopa, sopar sopa_.


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## Aoyama

> Or a verb referring to the time of the day when we're eating the soup: _dinar_ (to eat for lunch), _sopar_ (to eat for dinner). _Dinar sopa, sopar sopa_.


that is interesting.
_Dinar sopa _would just be "have lunch", _sopar sopa _"have dinner" ?
A bit like French where "soupe" can also have the meaning of "meal" (a little old).
A la soupe = come to eat, préparer la soupe = prepare the meal.


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## Favara

No.
_Dinar sopa_ only means to have soup for lunch, and _sopar sopa_ to have soup for dinner. _Dinar_ and _sopar_ are, respectively, "to have lunch/to have (sth) for lunch" and "to have dinner/to have (sth) for dinner". And _sopa_ is "soup".


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Τρώ(γ)ω σούπα
'tro(ɣ)o 'supa, lit. "to eat soup" 
(gamma can be omitted)
I've heard «πίνω σούπα» ('pino 'supa-to drink soup) too, but it's very-very rare


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## Aoyama

Favara said:


> No.
> .


Ok.



apmoy70 said:


> In Greek:
> Τρώ(γ)ω σούπα
> 'tro(ɣ)o 'supa, lit. "to eat soup"
> I've heard «πίνω σούπα» ('pino 'supa-to drink soup) too, but it's very-very rare


So, still "eat" ...


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## Angelo di fuoco

Awwal12 said:


> The Russian "хлебать" is mostly colloquial. Let's sort out the formal terms first.



I think that "хлебать" originally wasn't that colloquial, but just the genuine Russian word for consuming the soup (похлёбка), which, I think is related to the word "хлеб" (bread).

Another language which uses the verb "to drink" with soup is Chinese: 喝汤. In China, you have big bowls for liquid meals and plates for solid meals, but the dish where you put your individual food is always the same, something between a cup and a small bowl, without handles. You hold it close to the body and use chopsticks or a spoon, depending on the meal.


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## JGreco

> Hello Sokol,
> 
> In Costa Rican Spanish, "comer sopa" is more usual than "tomar sopa".  When I was a child, I always felt confused when I heard my classmates  and relatives say "comer sopa". However, it seems that "comer sopa" is not widespread in American  Spanish.
> 
> The main difference between Pensinsular and American Spanish is related  to tomar/coger (reach out for something and hold it).  I would be very surprised if  somebody said "beber sopa"...
> 
> Regards,
> 
> 
> swift




That is funny since in Panama (Costa Rica's neighbor) the word "coger" has no negative or sexual connotation and simply means to grab or take. As for soup, they use the Peninsular version of "tomar sopa" which I guess is different from the standard American Spanish norm.


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## Aoyama

> Another language which uses the verb "to drink" with soup is Chinese: 喝汤.


Absolutely (喝汤 : he tang), as in Japanese (but in Japanese 汤/湯 means primarily "hot water").
Probably most Asian languages will use "drink" for soup.


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## swift

JGreco said:


> That is funny since in Panama (Costa Rica's neighbor) the word "coger" has no negative or sexual connotation and simply means to grab or take.


I am afraid I did not express myself properly. In Costa Rica, "coger" has the same meaning it has in Panamanian Spanish: to grab, to take (= reach out for something and hold it). But it can be used also with a sexual connotation sometimes...

But maybe we are going a bit off-topic.


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## JGreco

Yeah I guess we did go a bit off topic since I know that has been discussed before in a different forum. I do mean to open up a forum for the phenomenon that occurs between countries such as Panama and Costa Rica where the cultures and language pronunciation norms have diverged quite a bit between neighboring countries. I will start a topic tomorrow unless the moderators split it off for me.


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## Encolpius

Hmm...I'd like to ask people who come from Asian countries and they drink soup if they *use spoon* when consuming the soup. In that case, I think, there is rather a cultural reason and no linguistic one. Of course it is possible to drink a soup here as well, I do remember a TV commercial about a bagged dried soup which can be prepared in your office in a mug. Then you drink a soup.

But let's take the *ice cream*, we do not use spoon, we usually lick it (a little spoon is possible as well), and we in Hungarian and I think in all European languages we eat ice cream, I wonder if Asian nations eat or drink ice cream as well.


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## Aoyama

> I'd like to ask people who come from Asian countries and they drink soup if they *use spoon* when consuming the soup. In that case, I think, there is rather a cultural reason and no linguistic one.


But it is certainly _more of a cultural _(or culinary) _reason _than a linguistic one. Linguistic(s) has little to do with soup ...
But considering the use of a spoon is a pertinent element. Though in Asia, very often, a special kind of spoon is used (in china/pottery, not metal) for soup ...
On a different order of ideas :
I think Hebrew would rather say "okhel marak" (eat soup) than "shote marak" (drink), not sure. What about Arabic ?


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## Awwal12

> Hmm...I'd like to ask people who come from Asian countries and they drink soup if they use spoon when consuming the soup. In that case, I think, there is rather a cultural reason and no linguistic one.


I agree: in Russia, as I mentioned, we "drink" something... if we *don't* use spoon.  By the way, a spoon in Russia is sort of traditional tableware. Well, I just cannot imagine an American or French eating cutlets and potato mash with spoon at home.  It's not like we don't use forks, but...


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## jazyk

> But let's take the *ice cream*, we do not use spoon, we usually lick it (a little spoon is possible as well), and we in Hungarian and I think in all European languages we eat ice cream, I wonder if Asian nations eat or drink ice cream as well.


In Brazil we say _tomar (drink)/chupar (lick) sorvete_ and in Portugal I suppose _tomar/chupar gelado_. Even though tomar can be translated as drink and is many times synonymous with beber (also drink), beber isn't used here. My guess is that our tomar is maybe more similar to French prendre or sometimes even English take, I don't know.


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## Aoyama

> My guess is that our tomar is maybe more similar to French prendre or sometimes even English take, I don't know.


That is what I ventured in my post # 18 (about Spanish).


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## Aoyama

> I wonder if Asian nations eat or drink ice cream as well


Chinese and Japanese go (logically) as Hungarians do : lick or _eat _ice [-cream].
They will drink ice-coffee and ice-tea ...


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## Mahaodeh

Aoyama said:


> I think Hebrew would rather say "okhel marak" (eat soup) than "shote marak" (drink), not sure. What about Arabic ?


 
I don't know about Hebrew, but in Arabic we only drink soup, eating it sounds funny and I can't imagine a dialect that says كل الشوربة. As a matter of fact, soup in Arabic is شوربة = shooraba, actually derived from the verb شرب = sharaba = to drink. A less collequal word, حساء = Hasaa' is derived fromt he verb "to sip", which is basically "drinking slowly".

I don't think it has anything to do with using a spoon or not, you simply do not chew the soup, to eat implies chewing. At least that's how I see it.


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## Aoyama

> in Arabic we only drink soup (...) soup in Arabic is شوربة = shooraba, actually derived from the verb شرب = sharaba = to drink.


Right.
This verb (through Turkish) has given the words syrup and sherbet ...


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## alidal

In Turkish we also eat our soup.
(çorba içmek)


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## Aoyama

> (çorba içmek)


Right.
Interesting, as you can see (if I am correct), the obvious link between *çorba* and *شوربة = shooraba* ...
In Hebrew it seems it is "okhel marak" (eat soup) also.


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## szivike

In Hungarian you eat soup. 
Enni = to eat
Soup = leves

"Levest enni" would be "To eat soup" or "Enni a levest" = "to eat the soup".


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## Aoyama

What about Romanian ?


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## swift

Hello Aoyama,

I think they use the verb "a mânca": *ei  mănâncă supa*.


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## szivike

Yes, that's right. 
In Romanian "to eat soup" = a mânca supă/ciorbă. 

I thought it was mentioned before, that's why I didn't post it sooner.


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## Aoyama

Yes, as I thought, mâncare, as in French manger or Italian mangiare.
That would prove that _all _(?) European languages _eat soup_ (Scandinavian languages ?).
With Arabic, it remains to be seen/checked if Maghreban Arabic (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian) follow Middle-Eastern Arabic ...


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## Outsider

jazyk said:


> In Portuguese:
> tomar sopa (lit. to take/drink soup), but the verb beber (to drink), which is synonymous with tomar in many contexts, isn't used in this case


_Comer_ (eat) _a sopa_ in Portugal.


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## jazyk

Good to know. I don't think I've ever heard that in Brazil, but that shouldn't mean anything.


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## Aoyama

But that is also what is used in (European) Spanish ...


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## jana.bo99

It can be both: 

Slovenian: 

jej svojo juho (eat your soup)
spij svojo juho (drink your soup)

Croatian:

jedi svoju juhu (eat your soup)
popij svoju juhu (drink your soup).

All depends, where the soup is: in swallow or deep dish.


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## Aoyama

You mean if the "soup" is in a kind of glass or a plate ?
I guess you would _drink_ from a glass, not eat, in any language.
But the remark is pertinent (as was done about Asian "soup", in a bowl cf.#24).
Now, a soup will (for me) be most of the time in a "soup plate" (cf. French : assiette à soupe, like cuiller à soupe). Bouillon (when clear) or potage might be in a glass/cup like vessel, but then (at least in French) it would still be manger (eat) BUT boire (drink) could be possible.
Bois/mange ton bouillon, bois/mange ton potage.
But that would involve a discussion about the difference(s) between _soup_ and bouillon, potage, gruel etc
We talk here, simply, about "soup" in general.


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## Arrius

Surely, at least in English, one* eats* one's soup or even broth (bouillon) if one uses a bowl or soup plate and a spoon, but if it is in a mug or cup, one *drinks* it, unless the lumps of meat or vegetable require the use of a spoon.


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## Aoyama

> one* eats* one's soup or even broth (bouillon) if one uses a bowl or soup plate and a spoon, but if it is in a mug or cup, one *drinks* it, unless the lumps of meat or vegetable require the use of a spoon.


or a fork, who knows.
But it is very true that the use of a fork or a spoon would rule out _drinking_ and "automatically" involve _eating_ (unless you accept drinking from a spoon).
But ultimately -which is what is the point here- the problem is the concept of _soup_ in different civilizations and thus languages.
Once again, where does one _eat_ soup and where does one_ drink_ soup ?


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## Outsider

Arrius said:


> Surely, at least in English, one* eats* one's soup or even broth (bouillon) if one uses a bowl or soup plate and a spoon, but if it is in a mug or cup, one *drinks* it, unless the lumps of meat or vegetable require the use of a spoon.


I imagine that the same applies to all the other languages where the expression "eat the soup" exists. But isn't soup, as a rule, served in a bowl or plate and eaten with a spoon?


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## Aoyama

> isn't soup, as a rule, served in a bowl or plate and eaten with a spoon


well, think about Asia, where soup is served in a bowl and ... _eaten _with shopsticks, but you_ drink_ soup in Asia (can you drink with shopsticks ?).
Same thing in Arabic, where you drink soup ... (cf.#35)


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## Outsider

It does look like the form of ingestion is what's at stake here. As far as I know, in Europe soup is usually eaten with a spoon, rather than drunk, at least in formal meals.


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## Angelo di fuoco

Aoyama said:


> well, think about Asia, where soup is served in a bowl and ... _eaten _with shopsticks, but you_ drink_ soup in Asia (can you drink with shopsticks ?).
> Same thing in Arabic, where you drink soup ... (cf.#35)


In China, as for all I know, you eat soup with a spoon. Chopsticks are for solid things.


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## Aoyama

In fact, you use _both_ , chopsticks and a plastic or china spoon called _chi_ in Chinese or _[chiri]renge _in Japanese. But you still _drink_ your soup with these ...


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