Eat more, don't waste.

Mangia, mangia.

"We should think about getting doggy bags".

or my mother's favorite: "There are millions of starving children in India who would love tho have that, so you better eat it>"

Thanks.

In my mother tongue, we would say:

Food edible shall not be wasted.

But does it fit the situation as idiomatic English?

Well, it's understandable, but it's not idiomatic nor is it the word order or choice we'd use. "Eat up; if we don't eat it, it'll just be thrown out--it'd be a shame to let good food go to waste'.

My entire family say "waste not, want not".

Lordy is right, the most common idiomatic expression is "waste not, want not." I've heard it all my life, and i use it myself. In fact, i use it so commonly that The Girl rolls her eyes whenever i say it.

Thanks all.

But for the correction, I used the present throughout because I thought it's a general situation; is it wrong?

(if native speakers do find my wording not idiomatic, please correct my English; every time after posting I will check my post, so if there are mistakes, it's because of my dearth of knowledge of English, but not typos.

hmm.. I don’t' know what idiom to use but tell them that food is grace so leave nothing behind. Hehe

Well, no, you didn't use the present indicative throughout. You wrote: "Now I am eating with some foreigners, and we have ordered food more than enough . . . " If you want that in the present indicative, you would write: "Now, I am eating with some foreigners, and we order more than enough food . . . " I put a comma after the introductory word "now" because although it is not something which commonly would be written, it is something would would commonly be said, and in speaking, one would say: "Now, we are going . . ." or "Now, we were . . . " In spoken English there would be a very slight, but noticeable pause after the word now.

Also, the use of dearth is not really accurate. Dearth means scarcity. If your English were "scarce," you'd hardly be able to express yourself in the language at all. You might say that your abilities in English are poor, but given how you write, i would not consider that accurate either. While not idiomatic, your English is fairly good. So,you might say that your English is faulty. What you lack is a knowledge of commonly used expression, of stock phrases and of idiomatic expressions. Much of that sort of thing is arcane--which means you just have to learn it, it isn't necessarily something you can figure out intuitively.

It's not good to over-eat.

Better the food goes in the bin than unwanted and un-needed food goes into your body.

Thanks all.

I'm happy to say I stand corrected.

I really like this forum!

This one gets my vote. I'm a big fan of not wasting food and taking my leftovers home. Yum!

Proof that you're so NOT an American.

good one free pokies

Me too.

Original: Now I am eating with some foreigners, and we have ordered food more than enough; if I want to tell them to eat more and we should not waste food, what idiomatic English can I use?



WB didn't mention anything about the "indicative" but regardless, I'd say that's exactly what was used "throughout", Set. Correct me if I'm wrong though.



Your original was fine, WB. It's exactly how a native speaker would say it for a situation like, "Imagine/Pretend that now I am eating with ...

No, I don't think a native speaker would say that. "Now I am eating...." is the way one would describe something that is actually happening, not a hypothetical situation. To describe a hypothetical situation you'd be more likely to say "If I am eating..." or something similar.

You missed the operative words, Jack - imagine, pretend, say



Imagine/Pretend/Say I'm eating with some foreigners ... is "something similar".