Learn Hardcore Chinese: qǐng nǐ dǎkāi bīngxiāng, ná yìdiǎnr yǐnliào lái. - Please open the fridge and bring some drinks.

请 (qǐng) is used at the beginning of the sentence to make a request sound polite or softer, similar to “please” in English, but it’s a bit stronger than just adding “please” at the end of an English sentence.

请你打开冰箱 literally: “I request you to open the fridge.”
Without 请 — 你打开冰箱 — is still a normal request/command, but more direct.
In daily speech, 请 in this kind of casual home context can sound a little more formal or “polite-on-purpose”; many people would just say 你打开冰箱，拿一点儿饮料来 to family or close friends.

So 请 is not required grammatically; it’s a politeness/softening word.

Why do we say 请你 and not just 请? Can 你 be left out?

你 makes the subject explicit: “you” are the one being asked.

请你打开冰箱 – “Please (you) open the fridge.”
请打开冰箱 – “Please open the fridge.” (the “you” is implied)

Both are correct.

Differences:

请你… feels a bit more personal/direct: you, specifically, do this.
请… alone is common in written notices or announcements, e.g. 请排队 (“Please line up”), where the subject is anyone reading the sign.

In everyday conversation, people often omit 你 if it’s obvious who they’re talking to.

Why is it 打开冰箱 and not 冰箱打开?

This is because 打开 is a verb and 冰箱 is its object. The normal word order is verb + object:

打开冰箱 – open the fridge
关门 – close the door
看书 – read a book

冰箱打开 is also possible, but it means something different:

冰箱打开了 – “The fridge is (has been) opened.”
- Here 冰箱 is the subject, 打开 works more like “to be open” or “to get opened.”

In your sentence, we’re telling someone to do the action, so we use the verb–object order: 打开冰箱.

What does 来 at the end do? Why do we need 拿一点儿饮料来 instead of just 拿一点儿饮料?

来 (lái) here is a directional complement. With 拿, it indicates the direction of the action:

拿…来 – “bring … (toward the speaker)”
拿…去 – “take … (away from the speaker)”

So:

拿一点儿饮料来 – “bring a bit of drink (to me / to where I am).”
If you drop 来, 拿一点儿饮料 is grammatically fine, but it’s incomplete in context because Chinese usually likes to mark direction in these “give/take/bring” actions. Adding 来 makes it clear you want it brought to you.

Compare:

帮我拿一下饮料 – “Help me pick up the drink (not necessarily to me).”
帮我把饮料拿过来 – “Help me bring the drink (over here, to me).”

What’s the difference between 来 and 过来 in this sentence? Could I say 拿一点儿饮料过来?

Yes, you can say 拿一点儿饮料过来, and it’s very natural.

Subtle difference:

来 – basic “toward the speaker.”
过来 – “come over (to this side)”; it often emphasizes moving from there to here, sometimes over a small distance.

In practice, for many everyday requests, 来 and 过来 here are very close in meaning:

请你打开冰箱，拿一点儿饮料来。
请你打开冰箱，拿一点儿饮料过来。

Both mean “open the fridge and bring some drinks (over) here.” 过来 can feel a bit more vivid about the movement, but either is fine.

What is the difference between 一点儿, 一点, and 一些 in this context?

All three can mean “a little / some,” but there are nuances:

一点儿 (yìdiǎnr)
- Very common in Northern Mandarin; the 儿 is often pronounced with “erhua.”
- Often sounds a bit more colloquial/natural in northern speech:
  - 拿一点儿饮料来。
一点 (yìdiǎn)
- Standard form without the erhua; often heard more in southern regions or in careful speech.
- In this sentence, 拿一点饮料来 is also okay; many speakers will still say 一点儿 though.
- 一点 (without 儿) is especially common before adjectives:
  - 冷一点。 “A bit colder.”
一些 (yìxiē)
- Means “some (amount),” often a bit more than “a tiny bit”:
  - 拿一些饮料来。 – “Bring some drinks.”
- Sounds a little more neutral about quantity, not as “small” as 一点儿.

In your sentence, all of these are possible and correct, but 一点儿 is the most typical if you imagine a northern speaker in everyday conversation.

What does the 儿 (r) in 一点儿 do? Is it always pronounced?

The 儿 in 一点儿 (yìdiǎnr) is part of 儿化 (erhua) – adding an “r”-like ending to certain words in many northern accents (especially Beijing).

In Beijing-style speech, it’s clearly pronounced: yì-diǎn(r).
In many southern accents, people write 一点儿 but pronounce it more like 一点 (yìdiǎn), with little or no “r” sound.

Meaning-wise, 一点儿 here is the same as 一点; the 儿 doesn’t add meaning, it’s mainly a feature of accent/colloquial style.

So:

Writing: 一点儿 is very common.
Pronunciation: may sound like yìdiǎnr in the north, closer to yìdiǎn in the south.

Why isn’t there a measure word before 饮料? Shouldn’t it be something like 一杯饮料?

Chinese often uses measure words with countable units, but here 饮料 (drinks/beverages) is being treated more like an uncountable mass noun (like “some water” in English).

一点儿饮料 – “a little bit of drink(s)” (no specific container or number).

If you want to specify the unit, you add a measure word:

一杯饮料 – a glass/cup of drink
一瓶饮料 – a bottle of drink
两罐饮料 – two cans of drink

So 一点儿饮料 is like “some drink(s),” no container focus, just quantity.

What’s the difference between 拿, 带, and 取? Why is 拿 used here?

All three can involve taking/bringing, but they’re used differently:

拿 (ná) – “to take (in your hand), pick up, bring.”
- Very common in everyday speech.
- Focus on the physical act of taking/holding something.
- 拿一点儿饮料来 – “bring (take and bring) some drinks here.”
带 (dài) – “to bring along / carry with you (when you go somewhere).”
- Often implies taking something with you as you move to another place:
  - 出去的时候带一点儿饮料。 – “When you go out, bring some drinks.”
取 (qǔ) – “to fetch / collect / take (often from a place where it’s stored or kept).”
- More formal or used in specific contexts:
  - 去银行取钱。 – “Go to the bank to withdraw money.”

In the fridge situation, you just want someone to physically take drinks and bring them over, so 拿 is the most natural verb.

Why don’t we say 从冰箱里拿一点儿饮料来? Is 从 necessary?

You can say:

请你从冰箱里拿一点儿饮料来。

That is fully correct and explicit: “Please take some drinks from the fridge and bring them here.”

In your original sentence, we have two clauses:

请你打开冰箱， – “Please open the fridge,”
拿一点儿饮料来。 – “(Then) bring some drinks.”

Because we just mentioned 冰箱, it’s clear where the drinks are coming from, so 从冰箱里 is easily omitted. Chinese often relies on context like this and doesn’t repeat obvious information.

Is it okay to drop 请 and just say 你打开冰箱，拿一点儿饮料来? Will it sound rude?

Yes, it’s completely natural to say:

你打开冰箱，拿一点儿饮料来。

Whether it sounds rude depends on tone and context, not just the words.

To a close friend or family member, said in a normal tone, it sounds like a normal, casual request.
To someone you don’t know well, or in a formal context, you might prefer 请你打开冰箱，拿一点儿饮料来 or something even more polite.

Chinese imperatives often don’t need a specific “please” word; politeness is communicated a lot by tone of voice, softening particles (like 吧), and context. For example:

你帮我打开一下冰箱，拿一点儿饮料来吧。 – Very soft and polite.

Can I use a 把 sentence here, like 请你把冰箱打开，把饮料拿来?

Yes, 把 constructions are natural here, especially if you want to highlight how the object is affected:

请你把冰箱打开，然后把一点儿饮料拿来。

Compare:

请你打开冰箱，拿一点儿饮料来。
请你把冰箱打开，把一点儿饮料拿来。

Both are fine. The 把 version often emphasizes the result/state of the object:

把冰箱打开 – “make the fridge become in the state of ‘open’.”
把一点儿饮料拿来 – “take some drinks and (cause them to) end up here.”

In casual speech, many people would stick with the simpler original; the 把 form is slightly more structured and sometimes feels a bit more deliberate or explanatory.

Why is there no 了 in 打开冰箱，拿一点儿饮料来? Shouldn’t we mark completed actions?

In imperative sentences (commands/requests), you usually don’t mark completion with 了, because the action hasn’t happened yet. You’re telling someone what to do in the future.

请你打开冰箱，拿一点儿饮料来。 – “Please open the fridge and bring some drinks (now/soon).”

If you add 了, it tends to sound like you’re describing something that has already happened, not requesting it:

冰箱打开了。 – “The fridge is open / has been opened.”

A sentence like 请你打开了冰箱 is normally wrong or at least very odd because 请你… is clearly a request, not a description of a completed action.

What exactly does 饮料 mean? Is it like “water,” “soda,” “alcohol,” or all drinks?

饮料 (yǐnliào) is a general word for drinks / beverages, typically:

Soft drinks (soda, juice)
Tea, coffee (when treated as “beverages”)
Bottled/canned drinks you’d keep in a fridge

It usually does not specifically mean plain water:

水 (shuǐ) – water
饮料 – other beverages (often flavored, sweetened, etc.)

Alcoholic drinks can be included depending on context, but if you mean specifically alcohol you’d say 酒 (jiǔ) or a more specific term (啤酒, 红酒, 白酒, etc.).

So in your sentence, the default picture is “some kind of soft drink or beverage from the fridge,” not “just some water.”