Ordering food: Portion sizes

🇹🇼 [你好] is understood, but in Taiwan staff often start with [你好] or [哈囉], while customers more often open with [請問] to get attention politely.

🇹🇼 In Taiwan [請問] is a very common polite opener when talking to staff, like "excuse me" before your actual question or order.

💬 [點] is the verb for ordering food. You can swap the question word: [你要點什麼？] "What would you like?" and [你要點幾份？] "How many portions would you like?"

💬 [點] is the verb used for ordering dishes or drinks. The pattern [你要點什麼？] can be reused with other question words, like [你要點哪一個？] "Which one would you like?"

💬 [我想] literally means "I think / I want," and it often softens what comes next. In ordering, [我想要...] sounds less blunt than just [我要...].

💬 [要] often means "want" in everyday speech, not just "need". In food situations you can use it directly: [我要牛肉麵] "I want beef noodle soup."

💬 [想要] is a very common way to say what you'd like, and it sounds a bit softer than plain [要]. You can swap in almost any item after it: [我想要小碗] or [我想要餃子]。