Lessons 11, 13, 15: Adverbials · The adverbs "也" and "都"

Explanation

Structure

1. 1
   Trạng ngữ (phó từ, hình dung từ…)+động từ / hình dung từ

   An adverbial modifies and goes before a verb or adjective.

   • 爸爸妈妈都很好。

     Bàba māma dōu hěn hǎo.

     My parents are both very well.

   • 汉字很难。

     Hànzì hěn nán.

     Chinese characters are very difficult.

   • 语法不太难。

     Yǔfǎ bú tài nán.

     Grammar is not very difficult.

2. 2
   Ssubject+也+是 / 不是+…

   也 goes before the verb; you can't say *也玛丽是留学生.

   • （麦克是留学生，）玛丽也是留学生。

     (Màikè shì liúxuéshēng,) Mǎlì yě shì liúxuéshēng.

     (Mike is an international student,) Mary is an international student too.

   • （田芳不是留学生，）张东也不是留学生。

     (Tián Fāng bú shì liúxuéshēng,) Zhāng Dōng yě bú shì liúxuéshēng.

     (Tian Fang is not an international student,) Zhang Dong is not an international student either.

3. 3
   S1 和 S2+都+是+…

   都 goes before the verb; you can't say *都麦克和玛丽是留学生.

   • （麦克是留学生，玛丽也是留学生，）麦克和玛丽都是留学生。

     (Màikè shì liúxuéshēng, Mǎlì yě shì liúxuéshēng,) Màikè hé Mǎlì dōu shì liúxuéshēng.

     (Mike is an international student, and Mary is too,) Mike and Mary are both international students.

   • 留学生都学习汉语。

     Liúxuéshēng dōu xuéxí Hànyǔ.

     The international students all study Chinese.

4. 4

   不都是 (phủ định một bộ phận) / 都不是 (phủ định toàn bộ)

   Three Japanese + four Americans → 不都是美国人; three Japanese + four Chinese → 都不是美国人.

   • 他们不都是美国人。

     Tāmen bù dōu shì Měiguó rén.

     They are not all American. (some are, some are not)

   • 他们都不是美国人。

     Tāmen dōu bú shì Měiguó rén.

     They are all not American. (none of them is American)