It's never too hard to get a drink in big cities in China such as Shanghai or Beijing for a newcomer – bartenders usually understand the English names pretty well and the drink lists are mostly in both languages. However, ordering a drink in Chinese never fails to impress your friends or a romantic interest. So here's how to order an alcoholic drink in Chinese.

Needless to say, unlike ordering a cup of coffee in Chinese, ordering a drink can be simple and direct, it usually doesn't require many courtesy words or "steps".

Sentence structure for ordering a drink in Chinese

Using Hanzi:

(給我) 來+ number of drinks + 杯/瓶 (measure word) + name of the drink

In Pinyin:

(Gěi wǒ) lái + number of drinks + bēi/píng (measure word) + name of the drink

Let's look at the first parts:

給我 gěi wǒ: for me
來 lái: indicates an action instead of using a specific verb, here it suggests "serve".
給我來 gěi wǒ lái: serve me …

To be polite, you can always add a 請 qǐng (please) at the beginning of the sentence and a 謝謝 xiè xie (thanks) when you finish the sentence when ordering a drink in Chinese.

Measure words for drinks

杯 bēi：a cup, a glass, a shot of…
瓶 píng：a bottle of…
扎 zhā：a glass of draft beer. 兩扎青島 liǎng zhā qīng dǎo, two Qingdao draft beers.

Chinese names for common drinks

Beer 啤酒 pí jiǔ:
Draft beer 扎啤 zhā pí
Craft beer 精釀啤酒 jīng niàng pí jiǔ
Liquor 烈酒
Whiskey (Bourbon, Scotch) – 威士忌 wēi shì jì （波旁威士忌 bō páng wēi shì jì，蘇格蘭威士忌 sū gé lán wēi shì jì）
Vodka – 伏特加 fú tè jiā
Gin – 金酒 jīn jiǔ
Absinthe – 苦艾酒 kǔ ài jiǔ
Anisette – 茴香酒 huí xiāng jiǔ
Tequila – 龍舌蘭 lóng shé lán
Rum -朗姆酒 lǎng mǔ jiǔ
Liqueur – 利口酒 lì kǒu jiǔ

Source: goeastmandarin.com
Editor: wanwan