第一百四十三天

[nnozomi]

语法
要 + noun for "want something". (Why are all the 要 meanings on one page when 了 is so spread out? First quarter of the page today, anyway)
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Auxiliary_verb_%22yao%22_and_its_multiple_meanings

词汇
喝, to drink, a nice straightforward verb (pinyin in tags)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-1-word-list/

Guardian:
你不知道，他们要的是我 you don't understand, it's me they want
沈老师，外面太阳大，喝口水吧 Professor Shen, it's so sunny out, have some water
你什么时候开始喝... since when do you drink?
(Interestingly, Shen Wei uses 喝 with 粥, congee, which I would have thought of as 吃. I guess it's soup in his mind? 药, medicine, seems to go with both 吃 (for pills) and 喝 (for medicinal tea etc.).)

Me:
我真要巧克力，但是会坚持。
你喝不喝热茶？

Comments

[grayswandir]

So I got curious about this whole 喝粥 thing, because I know in Cantonese you definitely eat congee (although you do drink soup). Looking at Mandarin sentences in some of the dictionaries I use, I found five examples with 喝... but also two with 吃. And meanwhile, Google turns up about twice as many results for "吃*粥" vs. "喝*粥." :/

I didn't get too in-depth, but I did find a couple of forum pages with people asking about it (Baidu, HiNative), and it looks like most of the answers seem to say both usages are fine. Some people seem to be claiming that 喝 is only for when the consistency is thinner; someone else claims the different usages are regional; someone else says 喝 is technically correct and 吃 is due to foreign influence. The only consensus seems to be that it's okay to use either one!

[trobadora]

The only consensus seems to be that it's okay to use either one!

That's good to know!

[presumenothing]

because I know in Cantonese you definitely eat congee

Was waiting to see if you'd say this because I had the vague impression this was the case, and anyway I'm half-convinced this is also because 粥 itself is literally different per region?? I have a hard time imagining saying 喝 about HK-style congee – in my head it only applies to maybe seriously watery types like Teochew porridge, but since that's usually eaten with side dishes anyway…

…yes, this is to say I'm firmly in the 吃 camp, standard-correct or not, and 吃粥 / 喝汤 is what I learned for Hokkien too!

[grayswandir]

I'm half-convinced this is also because 粥 itself is literally different per region??

Ah, I hadn't even thought of that. Yeah, I can imagine that if in some regions it's more watery and soup-like, by analogy it would make sense to use 喝 there.

I'm firmly in the 吃 camp, standard-correct or not, and 吃粥 / 喝汤 is what I learned for Hokkien too!

That does make the foreign-influence theory seem less likely! I'd be surprised if Hokkien, Cantonese, and Mandarin all brought in 吃粥 from outside...

[nnozomi]

I asked a friend in Taiwan for her opinion, and just made everything more complicated: 喝粥，吃稀饭, she said. Even though most places say 粥 and 稀饭 are the same thing... (they even have the same emoji lol 🥣🥣). She said: "粥应该比较像很浓的米汤，所以喝的。稀饭比较像是煮得很软很软的饭，所以我们说吃稀饭," and added “不过粥和稀饭，用吃或食用喝的，都应该没关系," so I give up. If you chew it it's 吃 and if not it's 喝, apparently? *facepalm*

[grayswandir]

Oh no. XD

I'd never heard of 稀饭 before. Maybe whether or not you distinguish between 粥 and 稀饭 as different consistencies is also regional?

[nnozomi]

Maybe so? 稀饭 was new to me likewise, oh dear. All in all I think if I'm ever in the relevant context I will give up on the whole thing and just order 面！

[trobadora]

I will cling to that "都应该没关系" ...

[nnozomi]

I will cling to that "都应该没关系" ...
I KNOW. Frustrating in the "but what's the right answer?!" sense, but reassuring likewise...