# Newbie | One Chinese Pancake

An episode of [ChinesePod - Beginner](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1489328856), 19 May 2026, 12 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/109bf914/podcast/play/120215825/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-4-19%2F8b7de9db-3b82-6b3b-a496-036d45f2ac32.mp3

In this Newbie lesson, Brian and Abby will take you for breakfast and show you how to order your desired meal. Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/4554

## Transcript

[0:23] Welcome back to Chinese Pop. I'm Brian.
[0:28] I didn't have time to have breakfast this morning.
[0:30] Abby, can you recommend some things that I might like for
[0:33] breakfast? Hmm, what's on Song Saming Chu?
[0:37] No, not sandwiches. I have those way too often.
[0:40] Nah. Hambur.
[0:43] Hamburgers aren't a food that you eat for breakfast.
[0:48] Hmm Yabu, it's on your open but. Oh, scallion pancakes.
[0:52] I like those a lot. They're.
[0:55] Great, so before I go order my food, let's take a look at this
[0:58] dialogue. Yoshima.
[2:08] Before we go further with today's lesson, let's take a
[2:11] look at the dialogue line by line.
[2:14] Yo Shama. What do you want?
[2:18] Yo Shama. What do you want?
[2:22] Yao Shen Ma Washington, Yao Tong Yo Bean.
[2:26] I want scallion pancakes. Washington Yao Tong yo Bean.
[2:31] I want scallion pancakes. Washington Yao Tong yo Bean.
[2:36] Yao. Chi Fen.
[2:38] How many portions do you want? Yao.
[2:41] Chi Fen. How many portions do you want?
[2:44] Yao Chi. Fen even duo Xiao Qiang.
[2:48] How much is 1 portion? Even Duo Xiao Qian How?
[2:53] Much is 1 portion. Even Duo Xiao Qian.
[2:58] Wu Quai. $5. Wu Quai. $5.
[3:05] Wu Quai. Washington Mayo.
[3:07] Ling Qiang. I don't have change.
[3:11] Washington Mayo. Ling Qiang.
[3:13] I don't have change. Washington Mayo.
[3:16] Ling Qiang Wujiyo. E by Quai.
[3:20] I only have $100. Wujiyo E.
[3:24] By Quai. I only have $100.
[3:29] Wujiyo E. By Quai.
[3:31] Make sure woyo. Don't worry, I do.
[3:36] Make sure woyo. Don't worry, I do.
[3:40] Make sure. Woyo.
[3:43] Abby, if I go to a stall to order something, what's the
[3:46] first thing that the vendor is going to ask me?
[3:48] Yoshima. Doesn't that mean what do you
[3:52] want? Yes.
[3:54] In English, this sounds kind of impolite.
[3:56] Does it sound impolite in Chinese?
[3:58] A little bit, but we say that very often.
[4:00] Why? Because the vendors are very
[4:03] busy so they say this to save time.
[4:05] I see. So let's look at the first word
[4:07] again. Yeah.
[4:09] It means to want. And we put Shama after Yao.
[4:14] Right, in Chinese we just put the what after the verb.
[4:19] Most of the time in Chinese, the important information or
[4:22] question words come after the verb or at the end of a
[4:25] sentence. Yao Shama.
[4:28] So how do I order a scallion pancake in Chinese?
[4:32] Well, Yao Tong yo Bing. Oh, so we use that want that we
[4:36] just talked about. Yes, we replace what with what
[4:39] we want. Oh, that's a lot easier than in
[4:41] English, yes. Now how do you say scallion
[4:44] pancake in Chinese? Tong yo Bing, Tong yo Bing.
[4:51] Now Tong, we usually say scallion in English.
[4:55] Are there any other ways to say it?
[4:56] Green Onion. Oh, then yo means oil.
[5:01] Why is oil in the name? Because it's slightly fried in
[5:04] oil. I see Bing usually means a cake.
[5:09] Now, since this is a big one, we usually translate it as pancake.
[5:13] Yes, and since it looks like a pizza, some people also call it
[5:17] Chinese pizza. After they ask what you want,
[5:21] they'll ask how many you want. Yao.
[5:23] Ji Fen and the question word here is Ji.
[5:28] Ji. Right, it means how many.
[5:31] But in Chinese, we can't just say how many after how many or a
[5:35] number. We have to add a measure word.
[5:37] And the measure word here is Fen Fen.
[5:41] It means portion or order of food when we're talking about
[5:45] food. For example, Shu Qiao.
[5:49] French fries. Yi Fen.
[5:51] Shu Qiao. And order of French fries.
[5:54] Or Zhao Tan. Breakfast.
[5:57] Yifen Zhao Tan. Now in Chinese we can say this,
[6:01] but in English we usually just say breakfast or a breakfast.
[6:06] So how do I ask how much something costs?
[6:09] Yifen duo Xiao Qian. Oh, so we use that measure word
[6:12] we just talked about with one to mean 1 portion.
[6:15] Yes, Yifen. And after that we put Duo Xiao
[6:20] Qian. Duo is more, Xiao is less, duo
[6:23] Xiao more and less means how much?
[6:26] We usually use this when we're talking about things that are
[6:28] uncountable nouns in English, or when we're talking about
[6:31] something where we think the number is going to be really
[6:33] large. And after Duo Xiao, we put Qian
[6:37] money. Right.
[6:38] We put these two together when we're talking about how much
[6:41] something costs. Duo Xiao Qian So how much is it?
[6:46] $5. Oh, Qai.
[6:49] Let's take a look at. Qai Qai.
[6:52] It means dollars. You can also call it Yuan Wu
[6:56] Yuan. We use this when we're talking
[6:59] about the amount of money something costs, not when we're
[7:01] talking about money or asking how much it is.
[7:05] So in the dialogue, the customer doesn't have anything but large
[7:08] bills. What does she say?
[7:10] Well, Mayo. Ling Qian.
[7:13] Let's take a look at Ling Qian. Ling Qian.
[7:18] Right, Ling means a small amount of something and Qian is that
[7:22] money. So here it means change, usually
[7:25] coins. And let's take a look at the
[7:27] word Mei yo. Mei means no.
[7:31] Yo means have. Mei yo don't have.
[7:35] Now we have a test for you. There's another translation from
[7:38] no, which is BU. So can we say BU yo instead of
[7:43] Mei? Yo what?
[7:45] Do you think? Have you got your answer?
[7:48] Well, the answer is no, we can't use BU when we use yo in Chinese
[7:53] Mei yo is what we always say for don't have.
[7:56] They just have to go together. It's a rule that you have to
[7:59] remember. Wu Mei Yo Ling Qian.
[8:03] So what did you have? The customer only had $100.
[8:07] Oh, Taj. Yo Yi bai Kwai Ji.
[8:12] Ji, it means only. We usually put a verb after GI,
[8:17] for example. GI Yao.
[8:19] Only want. GI yo.
[8:22] Only have. Let's use this in a different
[8:24] scenario. Can I borrow $100?
[8:27] Wu Jiyo. Wu Kuai.
[8:30] Can I borrow $5? Oh, OK.
[8:33] Aw. The customer says she doesn't
[8:36] have change and the vendor says Mei Shar.
[8:39] Wo yo. May means no sure means thing,
[8:46] may sure is it's nothing. Right.
[8:49] It's just like in English how we say don't worry about it, it's
[8:52] nothing. And.
[8:54] Wo yo. Is I have.
[8:57] Now in English we would usually say I do in this situation, but
[9:01] in Chinese we don't have the helping verb do so we just
[9:04] repeat the same verb yo. May sure.
[9:08] Wo yo. Now that we've taken a look at
[9:11] all of this, let's go back and take a look at the dialogue
[9:13] again. Greetings everyone, and welcome
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[9:52] Google Play or the App Store Yoshima.
[10:01] Where else We'll be up. Yoshifa.
[10:27] Or. Yoshima.
[11:03] After talking about food all day, I'm so hungry.
[11:06] We should go get some scallion pancakes.
[11:08] Sure, I want a Toyo Bean, but woman to you?
[11:13] Quiet. Well, you know we can share 1.
[11:16] Great idea, So. Let's go.
[11:18] All right. Well, if you have any questions
[11:21] about today's lesson, feel free to leave them in the comments
[11:23] section below. That's all for today.
[11:26] What's your Abby? What's your Brian?
[11:28] Shout to Jim. Bye bye.
[11:31] Now here's a vocabulary recap. Tongyo Bing.
[11:35] Scallion pancakes. GI.
[11:39] How many? Fun.
[11:42] Portion or order? Quai.
[11:45] Dollar. Ling Chen.
[11:49] Change. GI.
[11:52] Only. As usual, Chinese Pod provides
[11:57] an extensive selection of learning materials for this
[12:00] lesson on its website, www.chinesepod.com.
[12:04] You can access this lesson directly with the lesson number
[12:07] 4554. So just go to www.chinesepod.com
[12:13] slash 4554 and you will find a transcript, vocabulary and much
[12:18] more the link again www.chinesepod.com slash 4554.

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