Хотя бы сегодня давай не будем ничего заказывать: у нас дома есть суп и чай.

Хотя бы literally means at least.

In this sentence, Хотя бы сегодня means something like:

• At least today
• Just for today
• If only today, at least

It gives the sentence a soft, persuasive tone: the speaker is not necessarily saying never order food again, just let’s not do it today.

So Хотя бы сегодня sounds more natural and less harsh than simply Сегодня давай не будем...

Russian word order is flexible, and the order often shows focus rather than basic grammar.

Here, Хотя бы сегодня puts the emphasis on today:

• Хотя бы сегодня = at least today
• the idea is: maybe other days are different, but today let’s do this

You could rearrange things, but the nuance changes a bit. For example:

• Давай хотя бы сегодня не будем ничего заказывать
  This is also natural, but the sentence begins with the proposal давай, and хотя бы сегодня comes a little later.

Starting with Хотя бы сегодня makes the appeal feel more immediate and emotionally focused.

Here давай is a very common conversational way to mean let’s.

So:

• давай не будем заказывать = let’s not order anything

Literally, давай comes from the verb давать (to give), but in everyday Russian it often works like a particle used to make suggestions.

Common patterns:

• давай + infinitive
• давай(те) + first person plural future

In this sentence, it combines with не будем заказывать, which is a very normal colloquial structure.

This is mainly about aspect and tone.

• не будем заказывать = imperfective future
• не закажем = perfective future

Не будем заказывать sounds like:

• let’s not order anything
• let’s not do any ordering
• a general decision about the activity

It feels softer and more conversational.

Не закажем would mean something more like:

• we won’t order
• a more definite, result-focused decision

In suggestions with давай, Russian very often uses давай(те) + не будем + infinitive, especially when talking about avoiding an action in general.

So давай не будем ничего заказывать is the most natural everyday phrasing here.

Because Russian normally uses negative concord.

That means if the verb is negative, words like nothing, nobody, nowhere also become negative:

• не ... ничего = not ... anything / nothing
• не ... никого = not ... anyone / nobody
• не ... нигде = not ... anywhere / nowhere

So:

• не будем ничего заказывать
  literally: we will not order nothing

  But in correct English this becomes:

• we won’t order anything

This is completely normal in Russian. You should not try to make only one part negative, as in English.

Ничего is a form of ничто (nothing), and here it is used in the genitive.

Why genitive? Because in negative sentences, Russian often uses the genitive with words like ничего.

So in:

• не будем ничего заказывать

ничего means anything / nothing and fits the negative structure naturally.

For a learner, the most useful thing is to memorize the whole pattern:

• не делать ничего
• не видеть никого
• не покупать ничего

The colon introduces the reason or explanation for the first part.

So the structure is:

• Let’s not order anything today: we have soup and tea at home.

The second part explains why they should not order anything.

You could think of it as:

• because we have soup and tea at home

Russian often uses a colon in exactly this kind of situation, where the second clause explains the first.

У нас дома means at our place / in our home / at home with us.

Breakdown:

• у нас = with us / at our place
• дома = at home

Together, they emphasize that the food is already available at home, not somewhere else.

So:

• у нас дома есть суп и чай = we have soup and tea at home

This is a very natural Russian expression.

Here есть means there is / there are / we have in the sense of existence or availability.

Russian often omits the verb to be in the present tense, but есть is still used when you want to say that something exists, is present, or is available.

So:

• У нас дома есть суп и чай = We have soup and tea at home

If you removed есть, the sentence might still be understandable in context, but есть makes the idea of availability clearer and more standard here.

Because they are the things that exist / are available in the construction with есть.

In:

• у нас дома есть суп и чай

the words суп and чай are the items being stated as present, so they stay in the nominative.

This is the normal pattern:

• У меня есть книга = I have a book
• У нас есть время = We have time
• У них есть машина = They have a car

Russian has no articles like a, an, or the.

So суп can mean:

• soup
• some soup
• the soup

and чай can mean:

• tea
• some tea
• the tea

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, the natural English idea is probably:

• there’s soup and tea at home
• or we have some soup and tea at home

Yes, it could, but the meaning would become a little less specific.

Compare:

• У нас есть суп и чай = We have soup and tea
• У нас дома есть суп и чай = We have soup and tea at home

Adding дома helps contrast what we could order with what is already in the house. That makes it especially appropriate in this context.

It is informal.

The main clue is давай, which is used in casual speech when talking to someone you know well.

A more formal or plural version would use давайте:

• Хотя бы сегодня давайте не будем ничего заказывать...

So the original sentence sounds like something said to a friend, partner, roommate, or family member.