Indicating the whole with "quan"

One of the uses of 全 is to indicate the whole of something. It could be used for something like a household, a country, the world etc. We say similar expressions in English, like "the whole house (as in all the members of a family) came to China as tourists".

Structure

The structure is quite simple, just put 全 in front of the noun you want to describe. You cannot use it with 的. Pay attention to the types of nouns you can use with 全, since it is usually paired up with 国, 世界, 家, 天, 球 and the like.

全+Noun.

Examples

• 我们 全家 都 去 旅游 了。The entire family went traveling.
• 明天 我 全 天 都 呆 在 家里。I am going to spend the whole day at my house tomorrow.
• 你 知道 全 国 有 几 个 省 吗？Do you know how many provinces the country has?
• 现在 是 全 球 经济 发展 最 快 的 时候。Now is when the whole world is quickly developing economically.
• 全世界 的 人 都 知道 我 是 谁，你 不 知道？The whole world knows who I am. Don't you know?
• 这 场 战争 影响 到 全美国。This war is affecting all of America.
• 请 你 读 一下 全 文。Please read the full text.

See also

• Referring to "all" using "suoyou"
• Expressing "Everyone" with "shei"
• Expressing "All" with "shenme dou"
• Expressing "Every" with "mei" and "dou"
• Emphasizing quantity with "dou"

Sources and further reading

Books

• 现代汉语八百词 (p.457) →buy