食べる vs 飲む
JLPT N5 vocabulary · what is the difference?
食べる is for things you chew, 飲む for things that go down without chewing — and Japanese counts more things as 飲む than English does: medicine is 薬を飲む, never 薬を食べる. Soup is 飲む when you drink it from a bowl or cup and 食べる when you eat it with a spoon and it has solid pieces in it.
When to use each
食べる
たべる
Use 食べる when the thing is chewed, bitten or spooned up as solid food. Anything with pieces in it, and anything you eat with chopsticks or a fork, is 食べる.
ゼリーを食べます。
ぜりーをたべます。
I eat jelly.
具がたくさん入ったスープを食べました。
ぐがたくさんはいったすーぷをたべました。
I ate a soup with a lot of ingredients in it.
飲む
のむ
Use 飲む when the thing passes down the throat without chewing: liquids, and also pills, capsules and powdered medicine. If you tip it from a cup or swallow it whole, it is 飲む.
頭が痛いので薬を飲みました。
あたまがいたいのでくすりをのみました。
I had a headache, so I took some medicine.
カップのスープを飲みます。
かっぷのすーぷをのみます。
I drink the soup from the cup.
Sentences where only one works
薬を飲む時間です。
くすりをのむじかんです。
It's time to take your medicine.
Medicine is 飲む in Japanese even when it is a tablet you swallow dry. 薬を食べる is not said.
スープをスプーンで食べます。
すーぷをすぷーんでたべます。
I eat the soup with a spoon.
With a spoon and solid pieces, the same soup takes 食べる. Served in a mug and sipped, it takes 飲む.
ゼリーを食べながら、ジュースを飲みます。
ぜりーをたべながら、じゅーすをのみます。
I eat jelly while drinking juice.
Jelly is soft but has shape and is spooned, so it is 食べる; the juice beside it is 飲む.
ヨーグルトを食べますか、飲みますか。
よーぐるとをたべますか、のみますか。
Do you eat your yogurt or drink it?
Both are natural, because the verb follows the form: cup yogurt is 食べる, drinking yogurt is 飲む.
Common mistakes
薬を食べます。
薬を飲みます。
English says 'take medicine', so learners reach for 食べる for pills. Japanese fixes 薬 to 飲む whatever the shape of the medicine, and 薬を食べる sounds like you are chewing it as a snack.
スープは必ず飲むと覚える。
スープは飲むことも食べることもある。
Learners who memorise 'soup is 飲む' over-apply it. A thick soup eaten with a spoon really is 食べる; the verb tracks how it is taken, not the word スープ.
たばこを食べます。
たばこを吸います。
Neither verb works here. Smoking takes 吸う, and beginners sometimes guess 食べる or 飲む because the cigarette goes to the mouth.
Frequently asked questions
Why is medicine 飲む even when it's a tablet?
Because 飲む covers swallowing without chewing, not just liquids. A tablet, a capsule and powdered medicine all go down whole, so all of them are 薬を飲む.
Is soup 食べる or 飲む?
Both, depending on how it is served. Miso soup sipped from the bowl or a soup drunk from a mug is 飲む; a thick soup with vegetables that you spoon up is 食べる.
What about jelly and pudding?
ゼリー and プリン are normally 食べる because you spoon them. A drinkable jelly in a pouch, though, is 飲む — again the form decides.