Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā shuō zìjǐ yǐjīng chī bǎo le, kěshì hái xiǎng hē yìdiǎnr shuǐ. - She said she was already full, but still wanted to drink a little water.

她说自己已经吃饱了
- Highlights that she is talking about her own state.
- In indirect speech, 自己 usually refers back to the subject of the main clause (她 here), so it’s very clear it refers to “her”.
她说她已经吃饱了
- Also usually means “She said that she was already full,”
- But in some contexts 她 in the second part could theoretically refer to a different “she”. In this sentence it’s obvious from context, so it’s fine, just a bit less “reflexive” in feeling.

So 自己 is a very common and natural choice in reported speech when the subject is talking about themselves.

How does 说 (shuō) work here? In English we say “She said that she was full,” but there’s no “that” in Chinese.

In Chinese, 说 can be followed directly by the clause of what is said, without a word like “that”:

她说自己已经吃饱了。
Literally: She say herself already eat-full le.

Chinese doesn’t need a conjunction like “that” to introduce reported speech. You just put:

[subject] + 说 + [the content of what they said]

So:

她说自己已经吃饱了 = “She said (that) she was already full.”

There is no separate word for “that” in this structure; the clause after 说 already plays that role.

What exactly does 已经 (yǐjīng) mean here, and where does it go in the sentence?

已经 means “already”. It’s a time/aspect adverb that usually goes before the verb it modifies.

In the sentence:

已经吃饱了 = “already eaten to the point of being full”

Typical positions:

她已经吃饱了。
她说自己已经吃饱了。

You normally don’t put 已经 at the very end of the sentence by itself, and you generally don’t split it from the verb with other things in between.

Also, 已经 very often appears together with 了 at the end of the verb phrase:

已经 + [verb/verb phrase] + 了
→ 已经吃饱了

This combination emphasises a completed action or a new state that has already been reached.

Why do we say 吃饱 (chī bǎo) instead of just 饱了? What does 吃饱 literally mean?

吃饱 is a verb + result complement structure:

吃 (chī) = to eat
饱 (bǎo) = full (not hungry)

So 吃饱 literally means “eat to the point of being full”, i.e. “to have eaten enough / to be full because of eating”.

Compare:

我饱了。
“I’m full.” (just stating your state)
我吃饱了。
“I’m full (because I’ve eaten enough).”
Emphasises the completion of eating that leads to being full.

In your sentence, 已经吃饱了 makes it clear that:

The action of eating is complete, and
The result is that she’s full.

What is the function of 了 (le) after 吃饱, and what would change if we removed it?

Here 了 is a sentence-final/aspect particle that marks:

a completed action or
a change of state that has taken place.

已经吃饱了 suggests:
“She has (already) eaten enough and now she is full.”

If you remove 了:

已经吃饱
This is grammatically possible but sounds incomplete or unusual in everyday speech. Native speakers almost always say 吃饱了 (or 已经吃饱了) to express this meaning.

So:

吃饱了 = the “getting-full-by-eating” situation has been reached.
Adding 已经 (已经吃饱了) adds the idea “already”.

Without 了, it loses that nice, natural “state has now been reached” feeling.

Why is there no 她 in the second part? Why not say 可是她还想喝一点儿水?

Chinese often drops the subject when it is clear from context.

Here, the subject in the first clause is 她:

她说自己已经吃饱了

The second clause:

可是还想喝一点儿水

There is no new subject mentioned, so the reader/listener naturally understands the subject is still 她.

Both are correct:

可是还想喝一点儿水。 (more concise, very natural)
可是她还想喝一点儿水。 (explicit, also correct)

Omitting the repeated subject is very common in Chinese as long as there is no ambiguity.

What’s the difference between 可是 (kěshì) and other words like 但是 (dànshì) or 不过 (búguò) meaning “but”?

All three — 可是, 但是, 不过 — can be translated as “but/however” and are often interchangeable. Differences are mostly about style and tone:

可是
- Very common in everyday spoken Chinese.
- Slightly more emotional or conversational.
但是
- Slightly more formal or neutral.
- Very common in both spoken and written language.
不过
- Often has a softer “however” feel, like “but (on the other hand)”.

In your sentence:

可是还想喝一点儿水。
Emphasises a contrast: she’s already full, but still wants some water.

You could also say:

但是还想喝一点儿水。
不过还想喝一点儿水。

All are acceptable; 可是 just sounds nicely conversational here.

What does 还 (hái) mean in 还想喝一点儿水, and how is it different from 再 (zài) or 又 (yòu)?

In this sentence, 还 means “still / in addition / even so”.

可是还想喝一点儿水。
→ “but (she) still wants to drink a bit of water.”

Important nuance:
She already ate until she’s full, yet she still wants water. The 还 marks that slightly unexpected continuation.

Compare:

再 (zài) often means “again / one more time / later on”.
- 再喝一点儿水 = drink a bit more water (another time / another amount).
又 (yòu) often means “again (and it already happened before)” or “on top of that”.
- 又想喝水了 could mean “(she) wants to drink water again”.

Here we are not focusing on repetition or “another time”; we’re focusing on the fact she still has a desire even after being full. So 还想 is the most natural choice.

Does 想 (xiǎng) here mean “to think” or “to want”? Why 想喝水 and not something like 要喝水?

想 has several common meanings, two of which are:

to think / to miss
- 我想她。 = I miss her.
- 我想这件事。 = I’m thinking about this matter.
to want / would like to
- 我想喝水。 = I want to drink water / I’d like some water.

In 还想喝一点儿水, 想 means “want to / would like to”.

Why not 要?

想喝水
- Softer, more about a desire or wish.
- Often more polite or less forceful.
要喝水
- Can sound more insistent: “(I) must/will drink water.”
- In some contexts can sound like a demand, especially in first person.

So for expressing a simple, not-too-strong wish, 想喝一点儿水 is very natural and gentle.

What does 一点儿 (yìdiǎnr) mean exactly, and how is it different from 一点 (yìdiǎn) or 一些 (yìxiē)?

一点儿 literally means “a little bit (of)”.

一点儿水 = “a bit of water / a little water”

Differences:

一点儿 (yìdiǎnr) vs 一点 (yìdiǎn)
- Meaning is basically the same.
- 一点儿 (with “儿”) is more common in northern speech (Beijing, etc.) and in many learning materials.
- 一点 (without “儿”) is more common in southern speech and in written Chinese.
- In most standard contexts, you can use either; pronunciation may vary by region.
一点儿 vs 一些 (yìxiē)
- 一点儿水 = a small amount of water, often emphasizing smallness and can sound a bit more precise or modest.
- 一些水 = some water (could be a bit more vague in quantity).

In this sentence, 喝一点儿水 nicely suggests “just a small amount of water”, which fits the idea that she’s already full.

What is the purpose of the 儿 (r) in 一点儿? How is it pronounced?

The 儿 (ér) here is part of a common phenomenon called 儿化 (érhuà) — adding an “r” sound at the end of certain syllables, especially in northern Mandarin (e.g. Beijing accent).

一点儿 is pronounced approximately yìdiǎnr:
- 一 (yì)
- 点 (diǎn)
- 儿 (er) merges with 点 to create the “diǎnr” sound.

Functionally in 一点儿, 儿 doesn’t change the core meaning; it’s mostly:

a dialect/phonetic feature (northern-flavored standard Mandarin), and
a fixed expression: 一点儿 is just the common way many people say “a little bit”.

You can think of 一点儿 and 一点 as essentially the same phrase with slightly different regional flavours.

Is 水 (shuǐ) countable or uncountable in Chinese? Why do we say 喝一点儿水 and not something like “喝一个水”?

In Chinese, 水 (water) is generally treated as a mass noun (uncountable), similar to English “water”:

You don’t say 一个水 (“one water”) in standard Mandarin.

To talk about an amount of water, you can:

Use phrases like 一点儿, 一些:
- 喝一点儿水 = drink a bit of water.
Use a measure word + container:
- 一杯水 (yì bēi shuǐ) = a glass of water
- 一瓶水 (yì píng shuǐ) = a bottle of water

So 喝一点儿水 is the natural way to say “drink a bit of water” when you don’t care about the exact container or precise amount.

How is tense expressed in this sentence, since Chinese doesn’t have past tense endings? How do we know it’s about the past?

Chinese does not have grammatical tenses like English -ed. Instead, it uses:

time words and
aspect particles (like 了, 过, 着)
words like 已经 (already)

In 她说自己已经吃饱了，可是还想喝一点儿水。:

已经 (“already”) + 吃饱了 (change-of-state/completed)
→ tells us that the “getting full by eating” action is completed before the time of speaking.
The overall context “she said…” often implies this is reported past information in English, so we translate naturally as:
- “She said she was already full, but she still wanted to drink a bit of water.”

So even without past tense conjugation, 已经 + 了 together signal a completed past-like situation. The actual time frame is inferred from context.

Is it okay to say the whole sentence out loud exactly as written, with the pause after the comma? How is the sentence naturally pronounced and grouped?

Yes, the sentence is natural as written. It’s usually spoken in two intonation groups, matching the comma:

她说自己已经吃饱了，
- Rising or slightly falling-rising tone at the end, depending on context.
可是还想喝一点儿水。
- Falling tone at the end, since this finishes the statement.

So you would say it like:

她说自己已经吃饱了，／可是还想喝一点儿水。

The comma in Chinese marks a short pause / break in thought, similar to English. Structurally it connects two clauses:

clause 1: what she said about being full
clause 2: the contrasting desire to still drink some water