The third installment in my ‘Eating Chinese’ series is the idiom 生米煮成熟饭. Pinyin: shēngmǐ zhǔchéng shúfàn.

Literally meaning ‘the raw rice is now cooked’, the figurative meaning of this phrase is ‘what's done is done’, or the English idiom ‘it's no good crying over spilt milk’. Here is the example sentence:

她怀孕了，那个男的说他一定要跟她结婚，因为生米已经煮成熟饭. Pinyin: tā huáiyùn le, nà ge nán de shuō tā yí dìng yào gēn tā jiéhūn, yīnwéi shēngmǐ zhǔchéng shúfàn. English: ‘She’s pregnant, and the man whose baby it is says he will definitely marry her – after all, what’s done is done.’

In the recording (at the top of this post), first you will hear 生米煮成熟饭on its own, and then the example sentence. If you have problems playing the recording, you can also hear it here.

The second installment in my new ‘Eating Chinese’ series is the idiom 种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆, pinyin: Zhòng guā dé guā, zhòng dòu dé dòu. Literally meaning ‘Sow melons and you get melons, sow beans and you get beans’, it’s figurative meaning is synonymous with the English phrase ‘You reap what you sow’. Here is the example sentence:

爸爸告诉我你要努力学习才能上大学，因为种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆. Pinyin: Bàba gàosù wǒ nǐ yào nǔlì xuéxí cái néng shàng dàxué, yīnwèi zhòng guā dé guā, zhòng dòu dé dòu. English: ‘My father told me I must work hard so I can go to university, because you reap what you sow.’

In the recording (at the top of this post), ), first you will hear 种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆 on its own, and then the example sentence. If you're having any problems with playing the recording, you can open it in an external window by clicking here.

Chinese is a richly idiomatic language, so perhaps it’s no surprise, seeing that the Chinese are also such great eaters, that there are many idioms and expressions that involve food. Inspired by the wonderful Chocolate and Zucchini’s Edible Idioms series, I have decided to start my own series of posts, entitled ‘Eating Chinese’, on commonly used food-related idioms and expressions in Mandarin.

In each ‘Eating Chinese’ post, I will look at one idiom or expression. I will include the idiom and the example sentence in both Chinese characters and pinyin (go to this site to download Chinese Perakun, a brilliant add-on that allows you to view the pinyin and English translation when you hold your cursor over a Chinese character). Each post will also include literal and figurative English translations for the idiom or expression, and an example sentence with an English translation. Lastly, there will be a sound file attached to each post, with a recording of a native Chinese speaker saying the idiom or expression and the example sentence (thanks Pablo!)

My hope for this series is that it will prove both useful for students of Chinese, and interesting for anyone curious about the crossover between food, culture and language.

So, without further ado, let’s kick things off with 吃醋 (pinyin: chī cù). Literally meaning ‘to eat vinegar’, this idiom figuratively means to be jealous of something or someone, because, I guess, being jealous and eating vinegar tend to result in a similarly pained facial expression! Here is the example sentence:

她吃醋了, 因为她看到她男朋友和别的女孩子在一起 Pinyin: tā chī cù le, yīnwéi tā kàndào tā nánpéngyou hé bié de nǚ háizi zài yìqǐ. English translation: She was jealous, because she saw her boyfriend with another girl.

In the recording (at the top of this post), first you will hear 吃醋 on its own, and then the example sentence. If you're having any problems with playing the recording, you can open it in an external window by clicking here.

PS. For the full story of this idiom, go to this website.