Restaurant reservations Part 2: Specifying any dietary restrictions or special requests.
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Key Phrases
预订餐桌
yù dìng cān zhuō
Reserve a table
饮食限制
yǐn shí xiàn zhì
Dietary restrictions
不含坚果的菜品
bù hán jiān guǒ de cài pǐn
Nut-free dishes
Skills You'll Learn
Making reservations
预订餐位
yù dìng cān wèi
Communicating dietary needs
表达饮食要求
biǎo dá yǐn shí yāo qiú
Thanking and greeting
感谢与问候
gǎn xiè yǔ wèn hòu
Lesson Roleplay
Imagine you are making a restaurant reservation in a Chinese-speaking setting. You are speaking with the host to reserve a table for the next evening at 7 PM for four people, making sure to mention a guest's nut allergy and confirming there are no other special requests.
你好，我想预订一张餐桌。
nǐ hǎo wǒ xiǎng yù dìng yī zhāng cān zhuō
Hello, I would like to reserve a table.
您好，您想预订哪天的餐桌？
nín hǎo nín xiǎng yù dìng nǎ tiān de cān zhuō
Hello, for which day would you like to reserve the table?
我想预订明天晚上七点的餐桌。
wǒ xiǎng yù dìng míng tiān wǎn shàng qī diǎn de cān zhuō
I would like to reserve a table for tomorrow evening at 7 PM.
好的，请问您有几位客人？
hǎo de qǐng wèn nín yǒu jǐ wèi kè rén
Okay, how many guests will there be?
我们有四个人。
wǒ men yǒu sì gè rén
There will be four of us.
Lesson Vocabulary & Phrases
你
nǐ
You
好
hǎo
Good
你好
nǐ hǎo
Hello
🇨🇳 [你好] is a standard polite greeting, but in real restaurant calls people often skip it and go straight to the request, like [我想预订餐桌]. That sounds normal, not rude.
See breakdown →我想
wǒ xiǎng
I would like to
💬 [我想] is a soft way to state what you want, like "I'd like to…" You can reuse it with many actions: [我想预订] or [我想改时间].
See breakdown →预订
yù dìng
Reserve
餐
cān
Meal
桌
zhuō
Table
餐桌
cān zhuō
Table
💬 [餐桌] is literally "dining table," but in reservation context Chinese more often says [订位] or [订桌] for booking a table. So the idea is right, but the exact wording may shift in real use.
See breakdown →哪天
nǎ tiān
For which day
💬 [哪天] means "which day," with [哪] asking "which" and [天] meaning "day." You can swap the second part to ask about other things: [哪位] "which person," [哪个] "which one."
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