How to Say “I am starving” in Chinese
Food and dining · HSK 3
"I am starving" in Chinese is 我饿死了 (Wǒ è sǐ le). 饿死了 literally means 'hungry to death'; the 死了 suffix is a super common intensifier in spoken Chinese that attaches to adjectives to mean 'extremely'. You'll also hear 累死了 (exhausted), 热死了 (boiling hot), 烦死了 (so annoying).
Primary translation
我饿死了
Wǒ è sǐ le
Traditional: 我餓死了
Variants by register
Formal
我非常饿
Wǒ fēicháng è
Casual
我饿死了
Wǒ è sǐ le
When to use it
饿死了 literally means 'hungry to death'; the 死了 suffix is a super common intensifier in spoken Chinese that attaches to adjectives to mean 'extremely'. You'll also hear 累死了 (exhausted), 热死了 (boiling hot), 烦死了 (so annoying). Don't use 饿死了 in formal settings like a business lunch; say 我有点饿了 (I'm a bit hungry) or 我非常饿 instead. Among friends or family, 饿死了 is the default and sounds totally natural.
Example sentences
我饿死了，我们去吃饭吧！
Wǒ è sǐ le, wǒmen qù chī fàn ba!
I'm starving, let's go eat!
忙了一天，饿死了。
Máng le yì tiān, è sǐ le.
I've been busy all day, I'm starving.
你饿不饿？我快饿死了。
Nǐ è bu è? Wǒ kuài è sǐ le.
Are you hungry? I'm about to starve.