Learn Hardcore Chinese: jīntiān fàndiàn de cài bù tài tián, yě bù tài xián. - The dishes in the restaurant today are not very sweet and not very salty.

In modern Mandarin, you should treat 今天 as a single vocabulary item. It’s almost always written and spoken together, and you can’t normally split it in a sentence (you wouldn’t say 今饭店的菜天不太甜).

It’s only written as 今{jīn}天{tiān} here to show pinyin for each character, not to suggest they function separately in the sentence.

What is the function of 的 (de) in 饭店的菜?

Here 的 works like the English “’s” or “of” to show a relationship/possession:

饭店的菜 = “the restaurant’s dishes / the food of the restaurant”

Structure:

X + 的 + Y → “Y that belongs to / is related to X”

More examples:

我家的狗 (wǒ jiā de gǒu) – my family’s dog / the dog at my home
中国的文化 (Zhōngguó de wénhuà) – Chinese culture

What does 菜 (cài) mean here? Is it “vegetable” or “dish” or “food”?

菜 has several common meanings, and context decides which one:

Vegetable – e.g. 青菜 (qīngcài) “green vegetables”
Dish (a prepared dish you order) – 点菜 (diǎn cài) “to order dishes”
Food in the sense of “dishes served with rice” – 菜很好吃 “the food/dishes are delicious”

In 饭店的菜, it means “the dishes / the food served at the restaurant”, not specifically “vegetables.”

Why is there no 是 (shì) in “饭店的菜不太甜”？ In English we say “The food is not too sweet.”

In Chinese, adjectives can act directly as predicates without 是:

饭店的菜不太甜。
Literally: “The restaurant’s dishes not too sweet.”

General pattern:

(Subject) + 很/不/太 + Adjective

Examples:

他很高。 (Tā hěn gāo.) – He is tall.
咖啡不热。 (Kāfēi bù rè.) – The coffee isn’t hot.

You normally use 是 before a noun, not before a simple adjective:

他是老师。 – He is a teacher.
他很高。 – He is tall. (no 是)

What exactly does 不太 (bù tài) mean? Is it “not too” or “not very”? Is it positive or negative?

不太 + adjective usually means “not very…” or “not too…” and it is a mild, soft negative.

不太甜 – not very sweet / not too sweet
不太贵 – not very expensive / not too expensive

Nuance:

太甜 – “too sweet” (excessive, often negative)
不太甜 – “not very sweet” (a bit less than you might expect; often neutral or positive, depending on context)

In this sentence, 不太甜，不太咸 suggests the taste is moderate / just right, not that something is wrong.

Why do we use 不 and not 没? Could we say 没太甜?

Here you must use 不:

不 is the general negation for states, qualities, and habitual actions.
没 (没有) mainly negates past events, completed actions, and possession.

Tastes like 甜 / 咸 / 辣 are states/qualities, so:

✅ 不太甜 – correct
❌ 没太甜 – unnatural/wrong

More contrasts:

我不去。 – I’m not going (I choose not to).
我没去。 – I didn’t go (as a past fact).

For adjectives:

不冷 – not cold (now)
没冷 – generally not used for simple “isn’t cold”

Does 太 (tài) always mean “too (much)”? Why in 不太甜 does it seem to mean “very”?

On its own or with 了, 太 means “too / excessively”:

太甜了！ – It’s too sweet!
太贵了。 – It’s too expensive.

But when you put 不 in front:

不太 + adj softens it to “not very / not too”, and the “excessive” meaning disappears:
- 不太甜 – not very sweet
- 不太热 – not very hot

So:

太 + adj → “too …” (excessive, often negative)
不太 + adj → “not very … / not too …” (mild negative)

What is the role of 也 (yě) in 也不太咸? Could I just say 不太咸?

也 means “also / too”, and here it links the second description to the first:

不太甜，也不太咸。
“Not too sweet, and also not too salty.”

If you said only:

不太甜，不太咸。

it would still be understandable and acceptable in casual speech, but 也 makes the connection explicit and smoother, like “also / either” in English.

Typical patterns:

他不忙，也不累。 – He isn’t busy, and he isn’t tired either.
我喜欢咖啡，也喜欢茶。 – I like coffee and also like tea.

In the second part 也不太咸, where is the subject? Why isn’t it repeated?

The subject 饭店的菜 (and the time 今天) are understood from context and are not repeated:

Full form:
今天饭店的菜不太甜，(今天饭店的菜) 也不太咸。

Chinese often omits repeated subjects when it’s obvious who/what is being talked about, especially in short connected sentences.

More examples:

这本书很贵，也很难买。
“This book is expensive and also hard to buy.”
(Subject 这本书 is not repeated.)
他很高，也很瘦。
“He is tall and also thin.”

Why is the time word 今天 at the beginning? Could I put it somewhere else?

In Chinese, time expressions commonly go before the subject or right after the subject. Both are natural:

今天饭店的菜不太甜。
饭店的菜今天不太甜。

Both can mean “The restaurant’s food is not too sweet today,” but:

Putting 今天 at the beginning (as in 1) is very common and neutral.
Putting 今天 after the subject (2) can lightly emphasize that it’s today that it’s not too sweet, compared with other days.

General pattern:

(Time) + (Subject) + (Place) + (Verb / Adj)

Could I omit 的 and say 今天饭店菜不太甜?

No, 今天饭店菜不太甜 is unnatural. You need 的 to connect 饭店 and 菜:

饭店的菜 – “the restaurant’s food/dishes”

Without 的, 饭店菜 sounds like a fixed compound word, which it isn’t. For “X’s Y” relationships, X 的 Y is the normal structure:

学校的图书馆 – the school’s library
公司的名字 – the company’s name

Why use a comma (，) instead of 和 (hé, “and”) between 不太甜 and 也不太咸?

Here the comma separates two short clauses:

Clause 1: (今天饭店的菜) 不太甜
Clause 2: (今天饭店的菜) 也不太咸

和 is mainly used to link words or phrases of the same type, especially nouns or noun phrases:

苹果和香蕉 – apples and bananas
哥哥和妹妹 – older brother and younger sister

Linking two predicates/clauses, Chinese often uses a comma + 也/还/而且 instead of 和:

他很聪明，也很努力。 – He is smart and (also) hardworking.
天气不冷，也不热。 – The weather is not cold and not hot either.

Could we say 不太甜，也不咸 instead of repeating 不太?

Yes, 不太甜，也不咸 is possible and grammatical, but there is a subtle nuance:

不太甜，也不太咸
→ Both 甜 and 咸 are being softened. The food is moderate in both directions.
不太甜，也不咸
→ “Not very sweet, and also not salty (at all / not salty).”
The second part sounds a bit stronger: simply “not salty,” without the softening of 太.

In your original sentence, repeating 不太 keeps both descriptions in the same soft tone.

Is 饭店 (fàndiàn) the same as “restaurant”? How is it different from 餐厅 or 饭馆?

All three can relate to “restaurant,” but usage and feel differ:

饭店 (fàndiàn)
- In mainland China, often means “hotel”, but can also mean a larger/relatively formal restaurant.
- Context decides:
  - 这家饭店很贵。 – This hotel / this (nice) restaurant is expensive.
饭馆 (fànguǎn)
- Usually a small/ordinary restaurant, more casual.
- 这家饭馆的菜很好吃。 – The food at this (small) restaurant is very tasty.
餐厅 (cāntīng)
- General word for dining hall / restaurant / canteen.
- Used for school/company cafeterias, hotel restaurants, etc.
- 学校餐厅 – school cafeteria.

In your sentence, you can often swap 饭店 with 饭馆 or 餐厅, depending on the exact situation.

Is this sentence describing one specific dish, or all the food in the restaurant today?

饭店的菜 literally means “the restaurant’s dishes/food” in general, so by default it refers to the overall food being served today.

If you wanted to talk about one specific dish, you’d typically say:

今天饭店的这道菜不太甜，也不太咸。
“This dish at the restaurant today is not too sweet and not too salty.”
今天这家饭店的鱼不太甜，也不太咸。
“The fish at this restaurant today is not too sweet and not too salty.”