| 他们都是我的朋友。 | ||
| tā men dōu shì wǒ de péng you. | ||
Mom, she is Liu Wei, she is Wang Dan. They are all my friends. | Download | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hello. Very happy to meet all of you. | Download |
Do you all speak English? | Download | |||||||||||||||||
I can speak. | Download | |||||||||||||||||
I also can speak. | Download |
Li Qiang, are they all Chinese? | Download | |||||||||||||||||||||
Yes, they are all Chinese. | Download |
| Make a distinction between 都 (dōu, both/all) and 也 (yě,also) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Although都 (dōu, both/all) and 也 (yě,also) have different meanings in Chinese, many foreign students still mix them up at the beginning of their Chinese learning. One possible reason may be that 都 (dōu) and 也 (yě) are both used before the verb and they are the first a few adverbs they meet in Chinese. Let's see more examples to practice them: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| To express that a group of people have some similarities, we use 也 (yě,also) and 都 (dōu, both/all) together, and 也 (yě,also) should be put before 都 (dōu, both/all). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1) Using 们(men) to express the plural form of the personal pronoun. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In Chinese, we add the suffix 们 (men) after the personal pronoun such as 我 (wǒ), 你 (nǐ) and 她/他 (tā) to express their plural forms such as we/us, you and they/them as the following: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The objects have no plural forms, which means that their singular forms are the same as their plural forms. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Note: If the context is clear that both speakers know that they are talking about the plural forms of the people, there is no need to add 们 (men). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2) Expressing "all and both" with 都 （dōu） | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 都 （dōu）can be translated to all or both in Chinese. And it refers to all the person and all the things mentioned above as long as the number is more than one.The position of 都 （dōu）is always after the subject and before the verb or adj. The structure is:
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