quick 1 sentence translation

[MinorFatality]

Trying to say "Did you order food online?" in as simple of terms as possible. Don't really have any idea how to construct it. Any help would be appreciated.

[马盖云]

你在网络订购食物了吗？

(you on the internet order (purchase) food (completed action particle)(question)

There are may ways to say "online", "order" (or you could use 买 buy) and "food"，without more context, this is my best guess. For example, there might be different sentence constructions if you were confirming your thought vs asking "what" they ordered, etc.

[MinorFatality]

Is 上网 an appropriate substitute for 'internet' as a noun, or does this only function as a verb for surfing on the net?

[Kenny同志]

Did you order food online?

你在网上买过吃的东西吗？

or more formally,

你在网上买过食品吗？

PS:上网(to browse/use the internet) is an intransive verb. The internet is known in Chinese as 互联网, or 网络.

[roddy]

From a supermarket or a restaurant?

[Kenny同志]

Roddy's right; context counts.

If the food was ordered from a restaurant, the wording would be slightly different.

[MinorFatality]

It wasn't explicitly stated, but I supposed it was implied to be a fast food restaurant.

[Kenny同志]

In that case, I would say 你在网上订过餐吗？

[马盖云]

Was there anything particularly wrong with my answer of "你在网络订购食物了吗？" (before the OP clarified that it may refer to 'fast food' as opposed to "foodstuffs" or 'food supplies'?)

Also, why the use of 过 instead of 了? The question was "did you...", which seems to imply that the question-asker is inquiring about a specific known, recent past action as opposed to "have you ever..." which I would associate with the use of 过 (have had the experience at some time in the past)

I know kenny2006woo is a native speaker, so I'm sure he is better qualified to answer, I am just trying to most accuarately understand how -based on how the OP phrased it - to represent the meaning.

(and also, maybe I should have put the 了 directly after the verb, instead of the end? (你在网络订购了食物吗)

Thanks for helping us learn! :rolleyes:

[Kenny同志]

You’re welcome, 马盖云.

Your translation (你在网络订购食物了吗) is perfectly understandable, and it is not wrong, but I am afraid most natives won’t say things like that in such a context for the following reasons: 1)网络 is jargon, an informal alternative (as 网上) would suffice in this case; and 2)since what was ordered was food, or more specifically dishes, there’s no need to use that big word 订购; and 3)lastly, 食物 sounds too technical.

As for the characters, 过 and 了, both indicate a finished action.

Have you ever ordered food online? (an invented context: I have little experience with ordering food online and I want to know how it is done, so I ask a friend of mine, ‘have you ever ordered food online?’)

你在网上订过餐吗？

Have you ordered food online? (an invented context: it’s about time for lunch. I ask my colleague in the company, ‘have you ordered food online?’)

你在网上订了餐吗？

Did you order food online?

你在网上订过餐吗？or 你在网上订了餐吗？

(an invented context: someone’s knocking at the door and motions me to take the take-away; I am puzzled as I haven’t ordered any food so I ask my roommate, ‘did you order food online?’ )