Negation of "you" with "mei"

The adverb 都 (dōu) is used to express "all" in Chinese. It's common to use 都 (dōu) in a variety of sentences where it would seem unnecessary in English.

都 for "all"

Structure

Remember that 都 (dōu) appears after the subject. A common mistake learners make is to put 都 (dōu) at the beginning of the sentence (as "all" often appears there in English). This isn't good Chinese - make sure you put 都 (dōu) after the subject and before the verb.

Examples

你们都认识 John 吗？
Nǐmen dōu rènshi John ma?
Do you all know John?
他们都在上海。
Tāmen dōu zài Shànghǎi.
They are all in Shanghai.
明天我们都可以去。
Míngtiān wǒmen dōu kěyǐ qù.
Tomorrow we all can go.
你们都用 wiki 吗？
Nǐmen dōu yòng wiki ma?
Do you all use the wiki?
我们都要冰水。
Wǒmen dōu yào bīngshuǐ .
We all want ice water.

都 for "both"

Chinese doesn't normally use a special word for "both" like English does. It just uses 都 (dōu) as if it were any other number greater than one. Chinese also doesn't have a special pattern like "neither / nor" for the negative case. Just use 都 (dōu) and make the sentence negative.

Structure

Examples

These examples follow exactly the same form in Chinese as the ones above. The only difference is that here we don't translate 都 (dōu) as "all" in English; we translate it as "both," and for negative cases, we translate it as "neither."

>我们两个都爱你。
Wǒmen liǎng gè dōu ài nǐ.
The two of us both love you.
你爸爸和你妈妈都是美国人吗？
Nǐ bàba hé nǐ māma dōu shì Měiguó rén ma?
Are your father and your mother both Americans?
我和我太太都不吃肉。
Wǒ hé wǒ tàitai dōu bù chī ròu.
Neither my wife nor I eat meat.
你们两个都喜欢中国菜吗？
Nǐmen liǎng gè dōu xǐhuan Zhōngguó cài ma?
Do you both like Chinese food?
她和她老公都没有工作。
Tā hé tā lǎogōng dōu méi yǒu gōngzuò.
Neither she nor her husband has a job.

The "all" adverb "都" "dōu"

Contents

都 for "all"

Structure

Examples

都 for "both"

Structure

Examples

See also

Sources and further reading

Books