qǐng yòng gōngkuài.

In Chinese, the subject is often left out when it is clear from context. On a sign, menu, or table notice, 请用公筷 is understood as a polite instruction to the reader or diner: please use communal/serving chopsticks.

If you want to say the subject explicitly, you could say:

• 请你用公筷 = Please use communal chopsticks.

But in real life, the shorter version is very natural.

Here, 请 makes the sentence polite. In this kind of notice or instruction, it works like please in English.

So:

• 用公筷 = use communal chopsticks
• 请用公筷 = please use communal chopsticks

请 can also mean to invite or to ask, depending on the sentence, but here it is simply a polite marker.

用 means to use.

Its basic pattern is:

• 用 + thing
• 用 + thing + verb

In 请用公筷, it means use communal chopsticks.

A few similar examples:

• 请用手机扫码。 = Please use your phone to scan the code.
• 用筷子吃饭。 = Eat with chopsticks.

公筷 means communal chopsticks or serving chopsticks.

These are chopsticks used to take food from shared dishes, instead of using your own personal chopsticks. This is common in public health and dining etiquette contexts.

The word breaks down like this:

• 公 = public, shared, communal
• 筷 = chopsticks

So 公筷 literally means public/shared chopsticks.

Both are related to chopsticks, but Chinese often shortens words in compounds.

• 筷子 = chopsticks
• 公筷 = communal chopsticks

In compounds, the shorter form is very common. You would not usually say 公筷子.

This is similar to how English sometimes uses shorter forms inside fixed expressions.

It is polite, but it is still an instruction.

Because it uses 请, it sounds softer and more courteous than a blunt command. It is very common on signs, restaurant notices, public reminders, and formal instructions.

Compare:

• 用公筷。 = Use communal chopsticks.
  This sounds more direct or abrupt.
• 请用公筷。 = Please use communal chopsticks.
  This is the normal polite version.

Yes, 请使用公筷 is also correct.

Difference:

• 请用公筷 = shorter, more natural in everyday speech and signs
• 请使用公筷 = a bit more formal or official

使用 also means to use, but it sounds more formal than 用.

So on a public sign, both are possible, but 请用公筷 is very common and natural.

It is pronounced:

• qǐng yòng gōngkuài

Tone by tone:

• 请 qǐng = 3rd tone
• 用 yòng = 4th tone
• 公 gōng = 1st tone
• 筷 kuài = 4th tone

A rough English-style guide is:

• ching (with a dipping 3rd tone)
• yohng (falling tone)
• gong (level high tone)
• kwai (falling tone)

In this sentence, 请 comes before the action to politely introduce the request.

The structure is:

• 请 + verb phrase

So:

• 请 + 用公筷

This is the normal pattern for polite requests and polite instructions:

• 请坐。 = Please sit.
• 请进。 = Please come in.
• 请排队。 = Please line up.
• 请用公筷。 = Please use communal chopsticks.

Yes. 请你用公筷 is grammatically correct and means the same thing.

But there is a difference in tone and usage:

• 请用公筷 = general instruction, common on signs and notices
• 请你用公筷 = directed more clearly at a specific person

On a public sign, leaving out 你 sounds more neutral and natural.

Most often, yes. You are likely to see it:

• in restaurants
• at banquets
• at family-style meals
• on public health notices
• in school or workplace cafeterias

It is especially common when food is shared from the same dishes, and the speaker wants people to use separate serving chopsticks for hygiene and etiquette.

Yes. In many Chinese meals, several people share dishes placed in the middle of the table. Because of that, using 公筷 can be an important hygiene practice.

So 请用公筷 is not just a language point; it also reflects dining customs and public-health etiquette. In modern Chinese-speaking contexts, especially in public dining places, you may see reminders like this quite often.

By itself, it sounds completely natural as a sign, notice, or brief reminder.

In conversation, people might also say slightly fuller versions such as:

• 请用公筷夹菜。 = Please use communal chopsticks to pick up the food.
• 大家请用公筷。 = Everyone, please use communal chopsticks.

But as a short instruction, 请用公筷 is perfectly natural.