Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒ bù xǐhuan chī de tài bǎo, chī de tài duō wǎnshang jiù shuì bù hǎo. - I don’t like eating until I’m too full; if I eat too much, I sleep badly at night.

我wǒ　不bù　喜欢xǐhuan　吃chī　得de　太tài　饱bǎo，　吃chī　得de　太tài　多duō　晚上wǎnshang　就jiù　睡shuì　不bù　好hǎo。wǒ bù xǐhuan chī de tài bǎo, chī de tài duō wǎnshang jiù shuì bù hǎo.

I don’t like eating until I’m too full; if I eat too much, I sleep badly at night.

Breakdown of wǒ bù xǐhuan chī de tài bǎo, chī de tài duō wǎnshang jiù shuì bù hǎo.

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Questions & Answers about wǒ bù xǐhuan chī de tài bǎo, chī de tài duō wǎnshang jiù shuì bù hǎo.

What does 得 (de) do in 吃得太饱 and 吃得太多?

Here 得 is a structural particle linking a verb to a complement of degree / result.

吃得太饱: literally “eat – to-the-extent-of – too full” → “eat until (I am) too full”
吃得太多: “eat – to-the-extent-of – too much” → “eat too much”

General pattern:

Verb + 得 + adjective / phrase
e.g. 说得很快 “speak very fast”, 跑得累死了 “run until (I’m) dead tired”.

So 得 is not “get/obtain” here; it’s the neutral-tone de that connects the verb 吃 to what comes after (饱 / 多).

Why is 得 used after 吃 but not in 睡不好?

There are two closely related patterns:

Verb + 得 + complement (describing actual result/degree)
- 睡得好 “sleep well”
- 吃得太多 “eat too much”
Verb + 不/得 + complement (potential complement: can/can’t)
- 睡得好 “(can) sleep well / sleep well (in general)”
- 睡不好 “cannot sleep well / don’t sleep well (as a result)”

In the negative potential pattern, 不 goes between the verb and the complement and 得 disappears:

Positive: 睡得好
Negative: 睡不好 (not 睡得不好 in this sense)

So:

吃得太饱 / 吃得太多: verb + 得 + degree/result
睡不好: verb + 不 + complement (potential complement), so 得 is dropped.

Can I say 吃太饱 or 吃太多 without 得? Is it wrong?

You can hear and see both forms, especially in speech:

吃得太饱 / 吃太饱
吃得太多 / 吃太多

Roughly:

吃得太饱 / 吃得太多 — feels a bit more “textbook”, clearly showing the verb–complement structure.
吃太饱 / 吃太多 — very common in everyday spoken Chinese; many speakers omit 得 before 太 + adjective.

For learners, it’s safer and clearer to keep the 得:

吃得太饱
吃得太多

You will still sound natural, and your grammar will be very clear.

Why is there no object after 吃? In English we say “eat too much (food)”.

In Chinese, when it’s obvious we’re talking about food, the object is often omitted:

我吃饱了。 “I’ve eaten (and I’m full).”
你吃多了。 “You ate too much.”

In your sentence:

吃得太饱 and 吃得太多 imply “eat (food) until too full / too much”.
The word for “food” (饭, 东西, etc.) is not needed because context makes it clear.

You could add an object:

我不喜欢吃这么多东西。
But here the focus is on quantity/degree (太饱, 太多), not on what is eaten.

What is the difference between 太 and 很 here? Why use 太 instead of 很?

太 usually means “too / excessively”, with an over-the-limit, often negative feeling.
很 means “very”, usually neutral or just descriptive.

In your sentence:

太饱 → “too full” (more than is good)
太多 → “too much” (excessive)

Using 很 would weaken or change the meaning:

吃得很饱 → “eat until (I am) very full” (could be fine, not necessarily bad)
吃得很多 → “eat a lot” (neutral, not clearly a problem)

The sentence is about a problem (then I can’t sleep well), so 太 is the natural choice.

Why do we use 不 and not 没 in 不喜欢 and 睡不好?

不 and 没 are both negators, but they have different typical uses:

不
- Habitual, general, future, or statement of preference/attitude
- Negates disposition/ability or regular truth
没 (没有)
- Mainly past or completed actions (“didn’t / haven’t”)
- Negates existence or occurrence

In your sentence:

不喜欢 — “do not like” (a preference), so we use 不.
睡不好 — “cannot / don’t sleep well (when that happens)” → this is about (in)ability / bad outcome, not about “didn’t sleep”, so again 不.

If you said 没睡好, it would mean “didn’t sleep well (that time / last night)” — a specific event in the past, not the general consequence of eating too much.

How does 睡不好 express “can’t sleep well”?

睡不好 is an example of a potential/result complement:

睡好 literally “sleep well” (good result)
睡不好 “cannot sleep well / won’t sleep well (as a result)”

Pattern:

Verb + 得 + complement → possible / good result
- 睡得好 “sleep well”
Verb + 不 + complement → not possible / bad result
- 睡不好 “can’t sleep well”

This pattern is very common:

做得完 / 做不完 – can finish / can’t finish
看得懂 / 看不懂 – can understand (what one reads/sees) / can’t understand
听得清楚 / 听不清楚 – can hear clearly / can’t hear clearly

What does 就 do in 晚上就睡不好?

Here 就 marks the result, similar to “then / in that case / as a result”.

Structure:

吃得太多 → condition/cause
晚上就睡不好 → result/effect

So it’s like:

“If I eat too much, then at night I can’t sleep well.”

You could remove 就 and still be understood:

吃得太多晚上睡不好。

But 就 makes the cause–effect link clearer and more natural.

Why is 我 omitted in the second part 吃得太多晚上就睡不好?

Chinese often drops the subject when it’s obvious from context.

The full logical structure is:

我不喜欢吃得太饱，(我)吃得太多晚上就睡不好。

Because 我 is already the subject in the first clause, and nothing suggests a change of subject, it’s clear that 我 is also the subject of the second clause. Repeating it is possible but sounds heavier:

我不喜欢吃得太饱，我吃得太多晚上就睡不好。 (understandable but a bit clunky)

Natural Chinese prefers to omit it when there is no ambiguity.

Why is there no 在 before 晚上, like 在晚上就睡不好?

Time words in Chinese often function directly as adverbials, without 在:

我晚上睡觉。 “I sleep at night.”
他明天来。 “He’ll come tomorrow.”

Adding 在 is usually unnecessary and can sound less natural in this kind of simple time phrase:

在晚上就睡不好 is grammatically possible but sounds awkward in this short sentence; native speakers would normally just say 晚上就睡不好.

You generally use bare time words (今天, 明天, 晚上, 早上) directly; 在 is more typical with locations:

在家睡觉 “sleep at home”
在床上看书 “read in bed”

Does the comma here work like “because” or “if”? What is the relationship between the two parts?

Yes, the comma is separating two closely related clauses:

我不喜欢吃得太饱，
→ Statement of preference: “I don’t like eating until I’m too full,”
吃得太多晚上就睡不好。
→ Explanation / reason: “(because) if I eat too much, I sleep badly at night.”

The second clause is both a reason and an if-condition:

Understood as: “I don’t like eating too much, because if I eat too much, I don’t sleep well at night.”

Chinese often expresses cause–effect or condition–result simply by putting the clauses next to each other, optionally with 就 in the result clause, without an explicit 因为 / 如果.

Could I add 了, for example 吃得太饱了 or 晚上就睡不好了? What would change?

Adding 了 changes the nuance slightly:

吃得太饱了
- Emphasises current state or complaint: “(I’ve) eaten too much, I’m too full now.”
- Often used in a specific situation, not just as a general statement.
晚上就睡不好了
- Sounds like “then at night (I will) not sleep well (from then on / that night).”
- Also shifts it more toward a specific situation or a prediction.

Your original sentence, without 了, sounds more general and habitual:

“I don’t like eating until I’m too full; when I eat too much, I (generally) don’t sleep well at night.”

What exactly does 饱 mean here? Is it a verb or an adjective?

饱 is basically a stative adjective meaning “full (from eating)”.

我很饱。 “I’m very full.”
你吃饱了吗？ literally “Have you eaten to fullness?” → “Are you full / Have you had enough to eat?”

In 吃得太饱:

吃 is the action, 饱 is the resulting state (“full”), modified by 太 (“too”).
So the phrase means “to eat so that (I) end up too full.”

Chinese often uses adjectives as the result of actions in this way: 累 (tired), 困 (sleepy), 醉 (drunk) etc.:

跑得很累 – run until (I’m) very tired
喝得醉了 – drink until (I’m) drunk