Breakdown of zài fàndiàn chīfàn de shíhou, tā xǐhuan yòng xiànjīn, bù xǐhuan shuākǎ.
Questions & Answers about zài fàndiàn chīfàn de shíhou, tā xǐhuan yòng xiànjīn, bù xǐhuan shuākǎ.
Chinese likes to put time (and place) information near the beginning of the sentence.
在饭店吃饭的时候，他喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡。
Literally: At-restaurant-eat-meal-*when, he likes to use cash, (he) doesn’t like to swipe card.*
So the structure is:
- 在饭店吃饭的时候 – time phrase: when (he is) eating at a restaurant
- 他喜欢… – main clause: he likes…
You could also say:
- 他在饭店吃饭的时候喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡。
This is also correct. Putting the time phrase at the very front (在饭店吃饭的时候，…) gives it extra emphasis as the topic: As for when he’s eating at a restaurant, he likes to use cash…
在 is a preposition meaning “at / in / on” indicating location.
- 在饭店 = at a restaurant
- 在饭店吃饭 = eat at a restaurant
In front of a place word, 在 is normally required to express “at/in”:
- 在家 – at home
- 在学校 – at school
- 在公司 – at the office
If you drop 在 and say 饭店吃饭的时候, it sounds incomplete or ungrammatical in standard Mandarin. You very occasionally hear 学校上课的时候 in fast speech, but using 在 is the safe, standard choice: 在饭店吃饭的时候.
时候 means “time / moment / when”.
The 的 links the preceding phrase to 时候, turning the whole verb phrase into a modifier of 时候:
- 在饭店吃饭
- 的
- 时候
→ the time *when (he is) eating at a restaurant*
- 时候
- 的
Grammar pattern:
- [action / situation] + 的时候 = when …
Examples:
- 我上班的时候 – when I go to work / when I’m at work
- 下雨的时候 – when it rains / when it is raining
- 你累的时候 – when you are tired
Without 的, 在饭店吃饭时候 is wrong. 的 is required here.
They are different:
- 时候 = when / at the time (that…)
Used to introduce a specific situation or moment. - 时间 = time as a quantity or resource (how much time, spare time, etc.).
In this sentence, we are saying “when he is eating at a restaurant”, i.e. a situation, so 时候 is the right word.
在饭店吃饭的时间 sounds more like “the time period for eating at a restaurant”, focusing on duration, and would not be the natural choice here.
You can say 在饭店的时候，他喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡, and it would be understood.
But there is a nuance:
- 在饭店的时候 – when he is at the restaurant (in general)
- 在饭店吃饭的时候 – when he is eating at the restaurant
By adding 吃饭, the sentence clearly refers to the time during the meal, not just any time he happens to be at the restaurant (maybe working there, waiting outside, etc.). It makes the situation more precise.
The subject 他 is understood from the main clause and can be omitted in the …的时候 part.
Full form would be:
- 他在饭店吃饭的时候，他喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡。
But in natural Chinese, repeating 他 is not necessary. Chinese often drops subjects in subordinate clauses when they’re clearly the same as the main subject.
So:
- 在饭店吃饭的时候，他喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡。
= When *he eats at a restaurant, he likes to use cash…
(both “he”s are understood from that one *他)
Chinese has two common negatives: 不 (bù) and 没 (méi).
- 不 – negates habitual, general, or future actions and states.
- 没 – negates completed actions or existence (didn’t, hasn’t, there isn’t).
喜欢 is a state/feeling (like/dislike), and here it’s a general preference:
- 不喜欢刷卡 = doesn’t like paying by card (in general).
没喜欢刷卡 would sound wrong or at least very unnatural. You almost never say 没喜欢 to mean “didn’t like”; you’d use a different structure (e.g. 不太喜欢, 以前不喜欢, etc.).
不喜欢 literally means “don’t like”, so it’s weaker than “hate”. It normally expresses a negative preference, not strong hatred.
Rough scale:
- 很喜欢 – really like
- 喜欢 – like
- 不太喜欢 – don’t really like / not so fond of
- 不喜欢 – don’t like
- 讨厌 – hate / really dislike
So 不喜欢刷卡 is best read as he prefers not to pay by card, not he hates paying by card.
- 用 = to use
- 现金 = cash (physical money: bills and coins)
So 用现金 = “use cash”, in context: pay with cash.
Difference:
- 钱 = money in general (can be bank balance, salary, abstract amount, etc.)
- 现金 = cash, specifically physical currency.
You could say:
- 用现金付钱 / 用现金付款 – pay with cash
- 不用现金，用手机支付 – don’t use cash, use mobile payment
Literally:
- 刷 – to brush / swipe
- 卡 – card
Historically it meant to swipe a card in a card reader. In modern usage, 刷卡 simply means “to pay by (bank/credit/debit) card”, even if you tap or insert, not actually swipe.
So:
- 刷卡 = pay by card
- 不喜欢刷卡 = doesn’t like paying by card
If you want to be more specific, you can also say:
- 用信用卡 – use a credit card
- 用银行卡 – use a bank card
In Chinese, when two verbs share the same subject and are in the same clause, you normally mention the subject once:
- 他喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡。
Literally: He likes using cash, (he) doesn’t like swiping card.
The second 他 is understood and omitted to avoid repetition. Adding it:
- 他喜欢用现金，他不喜欢刷卡。
is also grammatically correct, but sounds heavier and less natural in such a short sentence.
Yes, that is also correct:
- 他在饭店吃饭的时候喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡。
Differences in nuance/order:
在饭店吃饭的时候，他喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡。
– Fronts the time phrase as a topic:
As for when he’s eating at a restaurant, he likes to use cash…他在饭店吃饭的时候喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡。
– Keeps 他 (he) at the very start, more like English word order:
He, when eating at a restaurant, likes to use cash…
Both are natural; the first is slightly more “topic-comment”-like, which is very typical for Chinese.
On its own, 在饭店吃饭的时候，他喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡 is tense-neutral in Chinese. By default, it’s understood as a general, present habit:
- When he eats at a restaurant, he (generally) likes to use cash…
To make it clearly about the past (used to like), you add a time word:
- 以前在饭店吃饭的时候，他喜欢用现金，不喜欢刷卡。
In the past / He used to, when eating at restaurants, like to use cash and not like paying by card.
Without such time expressions or aspect markers, Chinese doesn’t mark tense explicitly the way English does.