Go in with a purpose.
You are ordering coffee at a café. The staff member needs to know what you want and whether it should be hot or iced.
Your goal: Order one drink, answer a choice question and recognise a simple price.
Before you speak
- Decide which drink and quantity you want before you order.
- Expect a follow-up: the first sentence does not finish every order.
- Read the price on the menu as well as listening, especially when you are still learning numbers.
The conversation
你好！
Nǐ hǎo!
Hello!
你好！想喝点什么？
Nǐ hǎo! Xiǎng hē diǎn shénme?
Hello! What would you like to drink?
我想要一杯咖啡。
Wǒ xiǎng yào yì bēi kāfēi.
I’d like a cup of coffee.
热的还是冰的？
Rè de háishi bīng de?
Hot or iced?
热的，谢谢。
Rè de, xièxie.
Hot, thank you.
好的，请稍等。
Hǎo de, qǐng shāo děng.
Sure, please wait a moment.
多少钱？
Duōshao qián?
How much is it?
二十元。
Èrshí yuán.
Twenty yuan.
谢谢！
Xièxie!
Thank you!
不客气！
Bú kèqi!
You’re welcome!
Change a detail, keep the structure.
我想要…
Wǒ xiǎng yào…I’d like…This gives a useful request frame. Follow it with what you want rather than translating an entire English sentence word for word.
一杯咖啡
Yì bēi kāfēiOne cup of coffee杯 (bēi) counts cups. Learn the quantity, measure word and drink together: 一 + 杯 + 咖啡.
多少钱？
Duōshao qián?How much is it?Use it when the item is already clear. Listen for the amount and 元 (yuán), the currency unit in this example.
Understand more than the script.
Expect a second question
热的还是冰的？ means “hot or iced?” You can answer 热的，谢谢 without repeating the entire order. Short replies are natural when the context is clear.
Measure words make the quantity useful
一杯咖啡 contains both “one” and “cup.” For two cups, the common ordering phrase is 两杯咖啡 (liǎng bēi kāfēi). Learn that as a phrase rather than replacing 一 with 二 automatically.
Use the example price as practice
二十元 means twenty yuan in this dialogue; it is an example, not a claim about actual café prices. Check the displayed price, quantity and currency before paying.
Language reference: MIT OpenCourseWare · Learning Chinese, Units 1–4. Dialogues and teaching notes are original examples.