Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā yāoqǐng jǐ gè kèrén lái jiāli chī wǎnfàn. - She invited several guests to come to her place for dinner.

In questions: “how many” (usually expecting a small number)
- 你有几个哥哥？ – How many older brothers do you have?
In statements: “a few / several”
- 她邀请几个客人来家里吃晚饭。 – She invited a few / several guests…

In statements like this sentence (no question mark, no question particle), 几个 = “a few / several,” usually less than about ten.

What is the difference between 几个客人 and 几位客人?

Both mean “a few guests,” but:

几个客人 – neutral, everyday, casual.
几位客人 – more polite / respectful, often used in service situations or more formal speech.

Meaning is basically the same; the tone is different.

What exactly is 来 doing in 来家里吃晚饭? Why not just say 在家里吃晚饭?

来 means “to come” and shows movement toward the speaker or the subject’s place.

来家里吃晚饭 = come to (her) home to eat dinner
在家里吃晚饭 = eat dinner at home (just describing the location of eating)

In this sentence, she is inviting them to come over, so 来 is natural:

她邀请几个客人来家里吃晚饭。
She invites a few guests to come to her home for dinner.

If you say:

她邀请几个客人在家里吃晚饭。

it sounds more like “She invites a few guests (to an event that will be) at home,” focusing less on the motion of “coming over.” The original sentence emphasizes the action “come (to my/her place) and eat.”

Why is there no 在 before 家里? Why isn’t it 来在家里吃晚饭?

With verbs of movement like 来 (come) and 去 (go), you usually put the destination directly after the verb, without 在:

来家里 – come (to) home
去学校 – go (to) school
回家 – return home

在 is used to mark a location of a static action, like:

在家里吃晚饭 – eat dinner at home
在学校学习 – study at school

So:

✅ 来家里吃晚饭 (come home to eat dinner)
❌ 来在家里吃晚饭

What is the difference between 家 and 家里 here? Could we say 来家吃晚饭?

Both are possible:

来家吃晚饭
来家里吃晚饭

In modern spoken Chinese:

家 and 家里 are often interchangeable when meaning “home.”
家里 literally adds the idea “inside the home,” and often sounds a bit more natural/colloquial in sentences like this.

So:

她邀请几个客人来家里吃晚饭。
她邀请几个客人来她家吃晚饭。 (adding 她 to make “her home” explicit)

All are acceptable; 家里 is very common in speech.

Whose home does 家里 refer to? Why is there no 她的家里?

In context, 家里 here naturally refers to her home (the subject’s home). Chinese often doesn’t repeat possessives when it’s obvious:

她回家了。 – She went (back) home. (Her own home is understood.)
他妈妈在家里。 – His mom is at home. (His home is understood.)

You can say:

她邀请几个客人来她家吃晚饭。

That’s also correct, just a bit more explicit. 家里 alone is usually enough.

How is tense shown here? Does this mean “She invites” or “She invited”? Should there be a 了?

Chinese doesn’t mark tense the same way English does.
她邀请几个客人来家里吃晚饭。 by itself can mean:

She is inviting / invites a few guests (present / near future).
She invited a few guests (past), if the context makes that clear.

To clearly show a completed past action, you often add 了 after the verb:

她邀请了几个客人来家里吃晚饭。
She invited a few guests to come to her home for dinner. (completed action)

So 了 is not grammatically required, but it clarifies that it’s a completed past event.

Why is 吃晚饭 at the end? Could we say 她邀请几个客人吃晚饭来家里?

The normal word order for this structure is:

Subject + 邀请 + Object + 来 + Place + Verb (purpose)

So:

她邀请几个客人来家里吃晚饭。
She invites a few guests to come to (her) home to eat dinner.

Chinese usually puts:

Motion verb + destination, then
Purpose action at the end.

她邀请几个客人吃晚饭来家里 is not natural; the order 来家里吃晚饭 should stay together as one phrase: “come home (and) eat dinner.”

Why is there no word like “to” before 吃晚饭, like “to eat dinner”?

Chinese often uses a sequence of verbs to show purpose, without a special “to” word. The second verb automatically takes on a “to do X” meaning:

来家里吃晚饭
= come home (in order) to eat dinner

Other examples:

去图书馆看书。 – Go to the library to read.
回家休息。 – Go home to rest.

So 吃晚饭 itself covers “to eat dinner”; no extra “to” is needed.

Why is there no measure word with 晚饭? Could we say 吃一顿晚饭?

In Chinese, many common activities with meals use the verb directly without a measure word:

吃早饭 / 吃午饭 / 吃晚饭 – eat breakfast / lunch / dinner

You only add a measure word like 顿 (for meals) when you want to emphasize one whole meal, quantity, or evaluation:

吃了一顿晚饭 – ate one (whole) dinner
请她吃了一顿很好的晚饭 – treated her to a very nice dinner

In your sentence, we’re just describing the activity, so 吃晚饭 is standard and natural.

What’s the difference between 邀请 and 请 in a sentence like this?

Both can mean “to invite,” but:

邀请 – a bit more formal, often used in written language, official events, meetings, etc.
请 – very common in spoken Chinese, sounds a bit more casual and natural in everyday situations.

So you could say:

她邀请几个客人来家里吃晚饭。 (slightly formal tone)
她请几个客人来家里吃晚饭。 (more everyday tone)

Both are correct; the core meaning is the same.

Can I replace 来 with 去 and say 她邀请几个客人去家里吃晚饭?

Usually, 来 vs 去 depends on where the speaker’s or reference point is:

来 – come toward here / toward the speaker or host
去 – go away from here / to some other place

Since she is the host and it’s her home, using 来 fits the idea “come (to my place).” If you say 去家里, it sounds like the speaker and the action are oriented from a third place, not from the host’s perspective, and it’s less natural in this invitation pattern.

For “inviting guests to (my/her) place,” Chinese strongly prefers 来:

请你来我家吃晚饭。 (natural)
请你去我家吃晚饭。 (can be understood, but sounds odd in most contexts)

Can this sentence mean that she often does this, like a habit?

Yes, 她邀请几个客人来家里吃晚饭。 can be:

a specific event (with context or 了 to show it’s past), or
a habitual/general description, if said in the right context, e.g.:
- 她经常邀请几个客人来家里吃晚饭。
  She often invites a few guests to her home for dinner.

Without time words, Chinese relies on context to decide whether it’s talking about now, past, or habit.