随便: the hardest answer to “what do you want to eat?”

Ask a Chinese friend what they want to eat and you’ll often hear 随便, “whatever”. A ten-line dialogue that shows what 随便 really means, with 不然, 行 and 算了 along the way.

Yumi

5 November 2026 · 5 min read

随便 (suíbiàn): “Whatever.” (It never means whatever.)

Tap any word for pinyin and meaning.

Two friends, around dinner time.

The conversation

我有点饿了，不然去吃饭吧。

I’m getting a bit hungry. Shall we go eat?

行，你想吃什么？

Sure, what do you want?

随便吃点就行。

Whatever, anything’s fine.

那吃烧烤吧。

Barbecue, then.

太不健康了。

Too unhealthy.

那吃沙拉。

Salad, then.

那也太健康了吧。

That’s a bit too healthy.

那你说吃什么？

Then you tell me what to eat.

我也不知道，你随便定一个就行。

I don’t know either. Just pick something.

算了，你自己点外卖吧。

Forget it. Order your own takeaway.

What makes it sound real

随便 doesn’t mean “anything”

随便 means “as you like”. As an answer to 你想吃什么？ it sounds easygoing, and as this dialogue shows, it rarely is: barbecue is too unhealthy, salad is too healthy. It’s a running joke in China, especially between couples, and B’s 算了 is the usual ending.

You learned	In this conversation
随便 = as you like	随便 = I’ll know it when I hear it
不然 = otherwise	不然去吃饭吧 = shall we go eat?
那 = that	那吃烧烤吧 = barbecue, then

不然…吧 as a suggestion

不然 normally means “otherwise”. At the start of a suggestion, with 吧 at the end, it means something like “how about”: 不然去吃饭吧 is “shall we go eat?”. It sounds softer than 我们去吃饭吧.

行 and 那

Two tiny words carry most of this conversation. 行 is “OK” or “sure”, more common in casual speech than 好的. 那 means “then” and opens every new suggestion: 那吃烧烤吧, 那吃沙拉, 那你说吃什么？

算了, and 点外卖

算了 is “forget it”, the moment someone gives up. B’s way out is 点外卖, ordering food delivery, which is how a lot of meals happen in Chinese cities. 点 here means “to order”, as in 点菜 at a restaurant.

When A says 随便吃点就行, what does she really mean?

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