Emphasizing quantity with "dou"

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Structure

You can use 都 (dōu) to emphasise the large quantity of something, particularly a group of people.

Subject + 都 + Verb + Object

The subject should be some sort of large group, e.g. "很多人". In this case the structure is literally "A lot of people all ... ", but in English this "all" is not normally used. In Chinese it's very common.

Examples

  • 很 多 人 想 减肥。
  • 大家 应该 知道。
  • 爱尔兰人 喜欢 喝 啤酒。

See also

Sources and further reading

Books