In China, you often hear you should do this or that more (eat more, drink more water, wear more warm clothing etc.), and they often use the word 多 (duō). What's not intuitive to learners is that the word 多 should come before the verb.

Structure

This structure is often used in commands or suggestions. Note the position of 多:

This structure is not used exclusively as a command, so you could also include a subject if you needed to.

Examples

In English we like to say things like "eat more" and "drink more beer" and "I need to exercise more." Notice that in every one of these cases, the word "more" (equivalent to this use of 多) comes after the verb in English. In Chinese, it's more natural to put the 多 before the verb.

多吃点。 Duō chī diǎn.
Eat a little more.
多加点辣。 Duō jiā diǎn là.
Add a little more spice.
多放点糖。 Duō fàng diǎn táng.
Put a little more sugar.
爷爷，你要多出去走走。 Yéye, nǐ yào duō chūqù zǒuzou.
You need to go out and take a walk more often.
多给他点时间吧。 Duō gěi tā diǎn shíjiān ba.
Give him a little more time.
你为什么不多陪陪家人呢？ Nǐ wèishénme bù duō péipei jiārén ne?
Why wouldn't you spend more time with your family?
感冒的时候要多喝水。 Gǎnmào de shíhou yào duō hē shuǐ.
Drink more water when you have a cold.
医生让我多运动。 Yīshēng ràng wǒ duō yùndòng.
The doctor told me to exercise more.
他比你有经验，你应该多跟他学习。 Tā bǐ nǐ yǒu jīngyàn, nǐ yīnggāi duō gēn tā xuéxí.
He's more experienced than you. You should learn from him more often.
想提高汉语口语，就要多练习。 Xiǎng tígāo Hànyǔ kǒuyǔ, jiùyào duō liànxí.
If you want to improve your speaking Chinese, you need to practice more.

Counter-Examples

Just to be completely clear, the following uses of 多 are not as natural as the ones above. They'll be understood, and they might not be technically wrong, but you can do better!

Contents

Structure

Examples

Counter-Examples

See also

Sources and further reading

Books