In lesson eleven we will look at the adverb 都 dōu all.
It tells us that the situation it describes is true for the plural of the
subject or object.
都 dōu all is only used after subjects and before verbs and adjectives.
11.01 Example sentences with the adverb 都 dōu with noun and adjective
complements
11.03 Example sentences with the adverb 都 dōu all and the
adjectives 开心 kāixīn happy and 兴奋 xīngfèn excited
他很兴奋。我也很兴奋。我们都很兴奋。
Tā hěn xīngfèn. Wǒ yě hěn xīngfèn. Wǒmen dōu hěn xīngfèn. He is very excited. I am also very excited. We are all very excited.
王先生很开心。李小姐也很开心。他们都很开心。
Wáng xiānsheng hěn kāixīn. Lǐ xiǎojiě yě hěn kāixīn. Tāmen dōu hěn kāixīn. Mr. Wang is very happy. Ms. Lee is also very happy. They are all very happy.
莎拉很兴奋。马特也很兴奋。他们都很兴奋。
Shālā hěn xīngfèn. Mǎtè yě hěn xīngfèn. Tāmen dōu hěn xīngfèn. Sarah is very excited. Matt is also very excited. They are all very excited.
李雪很开心。你也很开心。你们都很开心。
Lǐ Xuě hěn kāixīn. Nǐ yě hěn kāixīn. Nǐmen dōu hěn kāixīn. Li Xue is very happy. You are also very happy. You all are very happy.
It is not always necessary to add 都 dōunall to every sentence, but adding or omitting it changes the emphasis of the sentence. 我们都很兴奋 Wǒmen dōu hěn xīngfèn. emphasizes that both of us are excited,
whereas 我们很兴奋 Wǒmen hěn xīngfèn. simply describes the state of being excited.
11.04 If you're happy and you know it... dialogue with the complements 兴奋
xīngfèn excited and 开心 kāixīn happy
Notice that in Chinese sentences when listing
complements it is not required to use a conjunction. Sarah says
that they are 很兴奋，很开心 hěn xīngfèn, hěn kāixīn excited and happy but there is no
actual conjunction connecting excited and happy in the Chinese sentence.
A direct translation of the sentence would be something like "We are all
very excited, very happy" which, while possible in English, is not as
standard as "We are very excited and happy."
