AEE: Would You Want to Split Something? How to Ask to Share at a Restaurant

Summary

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All Ears English Podcast

Episode: AEE: Would You Want to Split Something? How to Ask to Share at a Restaurant

Release Date: October 4, 2025

Hosts: Lindsay McMahon (L) and Michelle Kaplan (M)

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Brief Overview

In this lively episode, Lindsay and Michelle delve into the art of asking someone if they want to split a meal at a restaurant—an everyday but nuanced part of American dining culture. They explain when and how to make such suggestions, discuss the etiquette around sharing dishes, and provide listeners with natural, practical phrases they can use to navigate these conversations smoothly. The episode is packed with cultural insights, grammar tips, and playful banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. When Is It Appropriate to Suggest Splitting?

• Only with people you know well:
  • Splitting a main dish is generally something reserved for close friends, partners, or family (02:19–03:33).
    • Quote (Lindsay, 03:11):

      "No, I would definitely not do that, Michelle. I would warn against that, for sure. This is something for you and your partner or you and a good friend."

• Group appetizers are fine:
  • Splitting appetizers with a group, even with acquaintances or colleagues, is common and less intimate.
    • Quote (Michelle, 03:33):

      "Maybe if you don’t know the people that well, you’re just splitting an appetizer between... Do you guys want to get some chips and guac? And we’ll all split it, right?"

2. Cultural Nuances & Connection

• Deepening relationships:
  • Sharing a meal can be a subtle way to show closeness with someone (05:00–05:30).
    • Quote (Michelle, 05:00):

      "This is just, you know, kind of in a funny way deepening your relationship with somebody or showing how well you know them."

• Knowing preferences:
  • It helps to be aware of your companion’s tastes. Pizza is given as an example of where preferences can block sharing (05:30–06:13).

3. Natural English Phrases for Suggesting to Split

• Basic suggestions:
  • "Would you want to split something?" (06:21–06:25)
  • "Do you want to split a ___ and a ___?"
  • "You could get the ___ and I could get the ___."
  • Use these to open up the conversation and see if your companion is interested.
• Bonus Vocabulary:
  • "To be in between X and Y" for indicating indecision (07:47–08:01).
    • Quote (Lindsay, 07:47):

      "I’m in between the pizza and the pasta. I want to share something."

4. Handling Rejection or Disagreement

• It’s okay to say no:
  • Sometimes, one person just doesn’t want to split. Both hosts agree it’s important to stand your ground (12:42–13:11).
    • Quote (Michelle, 13:06):

      "I think I’m okay. I know, I just want the right big ziti or whatever."

• Handling awkwardness:
  • Refusing can feel awkward, but ultimately it’s better to be direct than to ‘cave’ (13:15–13:27).
    • Quote (Lindsay, 13:27):

      "'To cave' is a great bonus word for today, Michelle. So to give in. To give in to. Yeah. To not go with what you wanted originally. To compromise."

5. Confirming and Negotiating the Split

• Hedging with "I'd split":
  • Saying “I’d split something. What are you thinking?” signals openness but not commitment (11:33–11:51).
• Role play demonstration (14:01–14:33):
  • Practical example emphasizing tone, confirmation, and negotiating choices.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Lindsay (05:33):

  "You have to know that you’re on the same page. Like with my partner...we struggle a lot to split pizza because...what we like is just so different."

• Michelle (09:09):

  "First of all, I love pineapple pizza."

• Lindsay (14:23):

  "Okay, perfect. So that’s interesting. So you, you indicated you were open to it, but again, it’s a hedge because you’re not sure what I want."

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:19–03:33: When and with whom is it appropriate to suggest splitting
• 04:29–05:33: Sharing food as a connection moment and knowing preferences
• 06:13–07:14: Introduction to phrases for suggesting to split
• 07:47–08:12: Bonus phrase: “I’m in between ___ and ___”
• 12:06–13:27: How to politely refuse and the meaning of “to cave”
• 14:01–14:33: Realistic role play of splitting a meal
• 16:06–16:42: Cultural reflections and listener call-to-action

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Practical Phrases from the Episode

• “Would you want to split something?”
• “Do you want to split a sandwich and a salad?”
• “I’m in between the chicken and the fish—do you want to share something?”
• “I’d split something. What are you thinking?”
• “I could split, but I was thinking of getting the ___.”
• “I think I’m okay. I really just want my own.”

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Takeaway

• Splitting dishes is a subtle social skill in the U.S., best reserved for people you know well.
• The right language and tone can make these moments smooth and even fun.
• It’s perfectly fine to set boundaries; listen to yourself and communicate clearly.

Listener Challenge:
Reflect on whether splitting meals is common in your culture and share your experiences or opinions in the episode’s Spotify poll.

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For more All Ears English, check out episode 2477: "Are there free refills? How to ask for more food and drink in English."

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Transcript

[A]

This is an all ears English podcast. Would you want to split something? How to ask to share at a restaurant.

[B]

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City, usa. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com subscribe when you go to a restaurant, do you struggle to decide what you want and sometimes want to ask a close friend to share a meal today? Find out exactly how to ask this in English for a great meal and a great connection. Do you often end up in situations where you know exactly what you want to say but you don't have the English vocabulary words that you need in that moment to succeed in English, you need nuanced English vocabulary.

[A]

But.

[B]

But first you need to know your English level. Take our free English level quiz to find out if you are B1, B2 or C1. Go to allearsenglish.comfluencyscore that's allearsenglish.com fluency hello there, Michelle. How's everything today?

[A]

Everything is good over here, Lindsay. How are you? Good.

[B]

We're here on this sassy Saturday. Yes, all good. All good. I'm sure you might, maybe you're thinking of going out for dinner tonight or on the weekend. Michelle, so I'm curious about your habits. Do you, do you ever split a meal with someone because you both want a taste of a dish? I mean you just can't decide because essentially you, you know, you don't have to choose. You could split. Yeah.

[A]

Yes, I will definitely do this. I know my sister in law also does a lot of splitting. My mom, you know, and sometimes it's also like maybe you want to, it's about health. Maybe you think, oh, I, I don't want to eat that whole burger but I want something and maybe we'll split a. We're always, Dan and I split a sandwich and a salad. Right.

[B]

That's what we do too. Yeah, it's like a salad and a main dish or an appetizer in a main dish. You save money for sure.

[A]

Oh yeah, because there's so much, so, so many times when it's too much food anyway. So for sure. Yeah. But this is a real skill. So we're going to talk about how you can suggest this. Right? Lindsay, would you, do you Typically think that you would suggest this to someone you aren't really that close with, someone you don't know that well. Maybe at a business lunch.

[B]

No, I would definitely not do that, Michelle. I would warn against that, for sure. This is something for you and your partner or you and a good friend. Friend.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Not a new person, not a business colleague. For sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, maybe if you feel like you know your business colleague really well and they're also a friend. Maybe. But this is for people who you are closer to. Okay.

[A]

Right. And I think it's more common if. Maybe if you don't know the people that well, if you're just splitting an appetizer between. Oh, do you guys want to get some chips and guac? And we'll all split it, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But not for a main dish. Right? Right.

[B]

Because this is more. A little bit more intimate the way this works. Right. Sometimes, I mean, what do you do with Dan? Do you typically have one dish that comes and just kind of eat up the same dish, or do you ask for a second plate and then kind of push your portion onto your plate? Let's get into the details here, Michelle.

[A]

We want to know everything. I would say it depends on what it is.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And where we're sitting. Right. So sometimes if we're. If we're maybe diagonal, you know, we're more likely if we're on the same side. Side, maybe we'll. I don't know. Yeah. But. Yeah. Well, just sometimes we won't even order two entrees. We'll just split one thing and, you know, try to try to save money. Try to try to be a little healthier. What about you?

[B]

Yeah, totally. That's typically, I think, eating off the same plate sometimes in a casual restaurant, but sometimes, honestly, they'll bring you a second plate. We usually say we're gonna share the ravioli or something. Right. And they'll bring you a second plate in a nicer place. It does sound good right now, doesn't it? Are you hungry right now? Me?

[A]

Yeah, it says it. Dinner time.

[B]

Yeah, dinner time right now.

[A]

I had a. I had a nice piece of cheese before we started, so I'm good.

[B]

Sounds great. Well, this is a connection moment, Michelle. Right? Why is it a connection moment?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, you're. You're kind of becoming. You're close with someone. It's a. Again, it's not necessarily. This isn't a how to make friends by asking them split food episode. Asking them to split a meal episode. I mean. Yeah. Again, like, I Said you could say, oh, you guys want to split some apps? We'll get some wings, we'll get some this or whatever. But yeah, if we're talking more, this is just, you know, kind of, in a funny way deepening your relationship with somebody or showing how well you know them. Right. It really is.

[B]

It's so interesting. And you also kind of have to know what they might like.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You have to know that you're on the same page. Like with my partner, we cannot, we struggle a lot to split pizza because we just can't. Like, there's very few places where we intersect when it comes to pizza, what we like, but other things we can definitely split. So I don't know, it's a really tricky thing. So, Michelle, today's lesson is about what do we say when we want to inquire about this? I know that many of our listeners are potentially married to native English speakers.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Living in the US, living in the uk. And this would be a next level thing to impress your partner if you knew how to say this. I love that idea.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So cool.

[A]

Yeah, definitely. So what, what's one thing you could say? What's the first one? All right.

[B]

Would you want to split something? You could get the X and I can get the Y.

[A]

Or if you just don't even have the idea yet, you could just say, would you want to split something? Find out first and then get into the details. But yeah, you could say something like, you could get the tuna sandwich and I could get the salad. Yeah.

[B]

Because these days it is really expensive in the US to eat out.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You know, it just feels like the prices keep going up. So it does make a lot of sense economically speaking too. Right.

[A]

Yeah. Or you could just be more direct. Do you want to split a blank and a blank? Right. So do you want to split? I mean, a sandwich and a salad. Right? That's we, we do all the time. Yeah. The other I went when we were on the cruise, I remember my sister in law, she'll always inquire to my brother, oh, do you want to split something? And one night he was like, sure. And then the other night he was just, he just said, no, no.

[B]

That's pretty funny.

[A]

It is. There is that moment.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Isn't there? When you don't, when you're the person who actually doesn't want to split something, you're kind of thinking, oh, this sounds great to me, I found my perfect match and I don't want to split it. You don't want to do the Rejection.

[B]

You don't want someone poking their little fork into your, you know, into your plate. Get away.

[A]

Right, that.

[B]

And then you have to know how to answer that. And that's legit too, right? Maybe you were really hungry or something. Fair enough. Fair enough.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Or what's something. If you say you, you're not sure what you want.

[B]

So you could say, I'm in between the pizza and the pasta. I want to share something. Right. So I'm in. So to be in between is a good phrase, a bonus phrase for our listeners today. To be in between X and Y.

[A]

Yes. And that's a bonus. I mean, that's used for so many things. I mean, any decision you're making, you could say, I'm in between this.

[B]

Right, for sure.

[A]

Yeah. So, yeah. So you said you're most likely to split with your partner. I mean, so what? Yeah, like, I want to hear. I'm curious more about this pizza situation, because to me, pizza sounds pretty benign. I can't believe that that's like the, the sticking point.

[B]

No, because when you go to a restaurant that has a lot of pizza options, they're usually either meat heavy or veg heavy. Like, I love the, the pizzas that have olives and so spinach and lots of beautiful vegetables.

[A]

Olive oil.

[B]

And then my partner tends to like the meat heavy stuff. Like, you know, the, the sausage and the ham and load it up. And so that's just. There's no intersection there. There's no intersection sometimes.

[A]

That's true. That, that. Now it makes sense.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Though often you go to for pizza, they will split the pizza. You could order. Can we have half your ham and sausage and half veggie? Vegetarian. Right.

[A]

I also like the veg stuff, but my, my pizza choice, if I really want to choose two toppings, mine is very. You either love it or you hate it. Well, first of all, I love pineapple pizza.

[B]

That is a love it or hate it thing.

[A]

I like it.

[B]

I'm a love it.

[A]

I like it. And I also have it. I want it with mushrooms on it, too. Pineapple and mushroom.

[B]

Okay, fair enough. Mushrooms are also very controversial for on pizza. And the other thing that I think is very controversial is chicken on pizza. Fan or not a fan, Michelle?

[A]

I'm okay with it. I feel like we just recently talked about this. You don't like it, right?

[B]

I don't like it. I don't like it. It's just weird to me. It's like chicken or pizza, not chicken on pizza. I don't know, but you travel the world and you have so many different iterations of pizza. It's super cool. I love it. Yes. Are you in charge of hiring at your company? Every day that a role goes unfilled is a missed opportunity for your team and for your bottom line. That's why speed matters when it comes to hiring. So stop struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites. Indeed Sponsored Jobs helps you stand out and hire fast. With Sponsored Jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster and it makes a huge difference. According to Indeed data, Sponsored Jobs posted directly on indeed have 45% more applications than non sponsored jobs. We found one of our best team members on Indeed and a big part of our success was the Fast process. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit. To get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com AEE, just go to Indeed.com Sponsor/AEE right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com a e e terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Okay, so now, how do we answer then? So the next piece is obviously responding. When you ask if someone, if they want to split, so what could we say?

[A]

Okay, well, if you do want to, you could say, sure, or that works for me.

[B]

Or you say, I'd split something. What are you thinking? Now, this one's interesting because you're kind of hedging here. You're not saying, I will split something. You're saying, I'd, I would split something. I would split something.

[A]

Something. So it's kind of. You're not. You're dipping your toes in. You're showing you're not 100. Let's see if we match up.

[B]

Yeah, and it's really important for our listeners to pay attention to the grammar here. When you're in a busy restaurant, it's noisy, there's waiters flying everywhere. If you want to know the difference between I'll split something with you versus I'd split something. And I can hear the difference in my tone of voice too.

[A]

Right?

[B]

So don't consider it. It's not like done and sold yet. You need to choose something that they also might want.

[A]

Right. So interesting. Yeah. Right. And then there's the scenario which we've been touching on, is if you already know what you want and you know, then somebody is asking you to Split. And you wanted that so you could say, I could split, but I was thinking about getting the X. Does that work? So, yeah, I could. You could, you could either say it like this. I could split, or you could say, I could split. Right. But I was thinking about getting the cheesesteak. Yes, right.

[B]

An important life lesson here. Don't change your order. If you agree to split, don't say, okay, I'll get that instead. Because then you always end up annoyed with yourself later. Right? You always. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or, or what if you just don't want that? Like your brother in law just didn't want it anymore to split the second night. He was like, no, something went wrong the first night, I guess. Right. What could you say, Michelle?

[A]

I think I'm okay. I know. I just want the right big ziti or whatever.

[B]

You just want your own plate. Yeah, fair enough. Is it awkward to say no?

[A]

I think sometimes I do feel a little bit bad when Dan comes to me and, oh, you want to get this? And. Oh, not really. You know, and then I almost cave. Right. That's a good bonus word. What does it mean, to cave?

[B]

Cave is a great bonus word for today, Michelle. So to give in. To give in to. Yeah. To not go with what you wanted originally. To compromise.

[A]

Right, yeah, exactly. But I, I usually, you know, I don't know. I'll do a lot of meal sharing after I get the meal, so it usually kind of works out. But it can feel awkward to. To reject a hit.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. There can be an awkward moment there for sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But good to stick to your guns, I think. Otherwise you'll be annoyed later.

[A]

Yes, exactly. So should we do a role play to show how this will look?

[B]

Let's do it. So here we are, close friends. We're looking at a menu. We're sitting down at a restaurant. Okay.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Everything looks amazing.

[A]

Seriously, I can't decide.

[B]

Would you want to split something?

[A]

I'd split something. What are you thinking?

[B]

Well, I was deciding between the eggs Benedict and the omelette.

[A]

I'd split with you. I'll split with you.

[B]

Okay, perfect. So that's interesting. So you, you indicated you were open to it, but again, it's a hedge because you're not sure what I want.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And then I let you know. And then, then you confirmed I'll split with you. That's the confirmation right there.

[A]

I'm. I'm good with those options. I like those choices.

[B]

Although it's interesting because in my opinion, breakfast is the one thing that I. That I see. Split less. Less frequently. I don't really go out to breakfast much or brunch. I don't know if you do, Michelle.

[A]

Yeah, we've talked. We don't like brunch, but I feel.

[B]

Like it really much as much of a splitting. I feel like maybe people are still, you know, like, eyes half shut, they've got their coffee. They just kind of have their own plate most of the time.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Do you know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I kind. I see what you're saying. Yeah.

[B]

So what did we say here?

[A]

All right, so I said, I can't decide. And then you take that in and you say, would you want to split something? Huh?

[B]

Yeah. Would you want to split something? And then he said, you said I'd split something.

[A]

Right.

[B]

The intonation there is important.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then I asked you what you were thinking. And. And I said.

[A]

You said, well, I was deciding between the eggs Benedict and the omelette.

[B]

And then you confirmed, I'll split with you.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So we're gonna get one of the two. Right. We're lined up in terms of what we want. Nice.

[A]

Right? Or we might each get one and then.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

Yeah, that could. That could be another way of saying splitting. So you each get one of the two and then you just maybe eat a little bit and then. And then try both. I love that. Another episode we can check out right now if you want more. Allers English, guys, is. Are there free refills? How to ask for more food and drink in English. And that's episode 2477. Michelle, any takeaway for today?

[A]

This is just a fun topic. I mean, it's going to. It happens. I also kind of wonder about the cultural piece. I wonder if it's common in other cultures that people are splitting or do you do family style? You know, how common is this? So definitely let us know. Maybe we'll do a question, a survey question today about that.

[B]

Yeah, we'll do a poll question for sure. You have to be in Spotify, by the way, guys, to participate in that poll. So consider subscribing in Spotify, but you can also consume our show on YouTube or Apple Podcasts or any place you get your podcast. So, Michelle, thanks for being here. Good times.

[A]

All right, Lindsay, thanks for talking about this with me. All right, bye. Bye. Bye.

[B]

Thanks for listening to Allears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our 2 minute quiz, go to allearsenglish.com fluencyscore and if you believe in connection not perfection, then hit. Subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time. Bibimos prajo d' arten contrad unlugar en la playa con Alberca Cascada Tina Yuna regadre encraible expedia Vivimos para viajar.

[C]

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