The uses of
什么…都…,
哪儿都…,
and
谁都…
When do I use the
什么…
都…,
哪儿 都…,
and
谁 都…constructions?
These constructions are used to indicate general categorisation. They can be
used when you want to describe how a particular action applies to a general
object, as in
我什么(菜)都吃
wŏ shénme (cài) dōu chī I eat anything. They can also be used to describe
people in general doing a particular type of thing,
as in
谁都喜欢吃中国菜
shéi dōu xǐhuān chī Zhōngguó cài everybody likes eating Chinese food.
How do I form a
sentence with these constructions?
The interrogative什么
shénme what is placed before a noun
to become any or every.
Any or every can be used as the subject or object of a
sentence. If the word什么
shénme any or every is used as the object, it should be placed
before the adverb都
dōu both, all and can be placed
before or after the subject of the sentence. The adverb都
dōu is placed before the verb, as indicated below.
|
s |
什 么
o |
都 |
v |
|
wŏ
我 |
shénme dōngxi
什么东西 |
dōu
都
|
chī
吃。 |
|
I
|
ANY THING |
ALL |
EAT. |
I eat anything.
Or
|
什 么
o |
s |
都 |
v |
|
shénme dōngxi
什么东西 |
wŏ
我 |
dōu
都
|
chī
吃。 |
|
ANY (THING) |
I
|
ALL |
EAT. |
Apart from什么
shénme what, the interrogatives
哪儿
nǎr where and
谁
shuí who are
also used in this type of construction. If the word any or every
refers to the subject of a sentence, the resulting sentence pattern will take
the form of one of the four examples below.
谁(s)
|
都 |
v |
o |
shuí
谁
|
dōu
都 |
xihuan chī
喜欢 吃 |
Zhīngguó fàn
中 国 饭。 |
ANY/EVERY (ONE)
|
ALL |
LIKE |
CHINESE FOOD. |
Everyone likes eating Chinese food.
Or
|
什 么
s |
都 |
v |
o |
|
shénme rén
什么 人 |
dōu
都 |
xihuan chī
喜欢 吃 |
Zhīngguó fàn
中
国 饭。 |
|
ANY/EVERY (ONE) |
ALL |
LIKE |
CHINESE FOOD. |
谁(s)
|
都 |
v |
o |
shuí
谁
|
dōu
都 |
shnàng
上 |
dàxué
大学。 |
ANY/EVERY (ONE)
|
ALL |
GO |
UNIVERSITY. |
Everyone goes to university.
Or
|
什 么
s |
都 |
v |
o |
|
shénme rén
什么 人 |
dōu
都 |
shnàng
上 |
dàxué
大学。 |
|
ANY/EVERY (ONE) |
ALL |
GO |
UNIVERSITY. |
How do I
form a negative sentence with these constructions?
In a negative sentence,
the adverb也yĕ
is used instead of都dōu.
The negation
不bù
or没méi
is placed before the verb as indicated below.
|
s |
哪 儿(o) |
也
|
不
/没v |
|
wŏ
我 |
năr
哪儿 |
yĕ
也 |
bú qù
不去。 |
|
I |
ANY/EVERY (WHERE) |
ALL |
NOT GO. |
I don’t go anywhere.
Or
|
s |
什 么
o |
也
|
不
/没v |
|
wŏ
我 |
shénme dìfang
什 么 地方 |
yĕ
也 |
méi qù
没去。 |
|
I |
ANY/EVERY (WHERE) |
ALL |
NOT GO. |
I didn’t go anywhere.
Is there any difference in meaning between都and
也
here?
No, not really. The adverb也yě
is usually used in negative sentences as above, while the adverb都dōu
can be used in both affirmative and negative sentences as in
|
s |
哪 儿(o.) |
也
/ 都 |
v |
|
wŏ
我 |
năr
哪儿 |
yĕ
/
dōu
也
/都 |
bú qù
不去。 |
|
I |
ANY/EVERY (WHERE) |
ALL |
NOT GO |
I don’t go anywhere.
Or
|
s |
什 么
o |
也
/ 都 |
v |
|
wŏ
我 |
shénme dìfang
什么 地方 |
yĕ
/
dōu
也
/都 |
bú qù
不去。 |
|
I |
ANY/EVERY (WHERE) |
ALL |
NOT GO. |
Are there any differences in word order between the constructions of
什么…都…,
谁都…
and哪儿都…?
The word order in all these constructions is the same, but there are differences
in the way that things are indicated. A noun is often used
to specify什么,
as in
什么人都…
shénme rén dōu anybody…,
什么东西都…
shénme dōngxi dōu anything…
or
什么菜都…
shénme cài dōu any
kind of food... The word
什么
shénme any in these constructions has
a similar meaning to the adjective
任何
rènhé any, which is also followed by
a noun, as in
任何人rènhé
rén anybody,
任何东西rènhé
dōngxi anything, and
任何菜rènhé
cài any
kind of food. However,
谁shuí
anybody or
哪儿nǎr
anywhere refers to a person or a
place, so there is no additional noun needed to specify
谁
shuí
and
哪儿nǎr.
What is the difference in meaning between using
任何,
所有的and
these constructions?
任何rènhé
any and
所有的
suŏyŏude
every/all
expressions are followed by都
dōu (but not也yĕ).
任何rènhé
any can be used in a similar way to
the sentence constructions above, with a noun being placed after
任何
rènhé any, as in
|
wŏ
我 |
rènhé dōngxi / shénme dōngxi
任何东西/什么东西 |
dōu
都
|
chī
吃。 |
|
I |
ANY/EVERY (THING) |
ALL |
EAT. |
I eat anything.
rènhén rén
/shénme
rén
任何 人/什
么人
|
dōu
都 |
shuō
说 |
Zhōngguó fàn
hăo
中
国 饭 好。 |
ANY/EVERY (BODY)
|
ALL |
SAY |
CHINESE FOOD GOOD. |
Everybody says that Chinese food is good.
|
wŏ
我 |
rènhé dìfang / shénme dìfang
任何地方/什
么
地方 |
dōu
都 |
búqù
不去。 |
I
|
ANY/EVERY (WHERE) |
ALL |
NOT GO. |
I don’t go anywhere.
However, unlike任何rènhé,
sometimes什么
shénme does not necessarily need a specified noun. For example,
我什么都吃
wŏ shénme dōu chī I eat anything.
我什么都看wǒ
shénme dōu kàn I read anything/ I watch
anything.
How can I form a
比or
a 把sentence
with these constructions?
The general principle for forming these sentences is the same: the adverbs
都or
也should
be placed before verbs and stative verbs. Please see the following word order
possibilities in
sentences
using
比and
把.
The following sentence demonstrates a construction where谁都shéi
dōu
forms the subject.
1.
|
s |
都 |
比 |
o |
sv |
|
shéi
谁 |
dōu
都 |
bĭ
比 |
tā
他 |
hǎo
好 |
|
ANY/EVERY (BODY) |
ALL |
COMPARE |
HIM |
BETTER |
Anybody is better than him.
The following sentence demonstrates a construction where哪儿都
nǎr
dōu
forms the object.
2.
|
s |
比 |
o |
都 |
sv |
|
zhèr
这儿 |
bĭ
比 |
nǎr
哪儿 |
dōu
都 |
hǎo
好 |
|
HERE |
COMPARE |
ANY/EVERY (WHERE) |
ALL |
BETTER |
Here is better than anywhere else.
If the construction forms the subject of a sentence, as demonstrated in example
1,
都
dōu is placed before比
bĭ,
and if it forms the object of a sentence, as in example 2,
都
dōu is placed before the stative verb.
Let’s see how these constructions are used to compare actions. The construction
forms
the object of the sentence in examples 3 and 3b.
3.
|
s (topic) |
比 |
o |
都 |
verb
phrase |
|
tāshō Zhōngwén
他说中 文 |
bĭ
比 |
shéi
谁 |
dōu
都 |
shuō
de liú lì
说
得流利 |
|
HE SPEAKS CHINESE |
COMPARE |
ANY/EVERY (BODY) |
ALL |
SPEAK DE FLUENTLY |
He speaks Chinese more fluently than anybody.
3b.
|
s (topic) |
v (complement of degree) |
比 |
o |
都
adverb |
|
tāshō Zhōngwén
他说中
文 |
shuōde
说 得 |
bĭ
比 |
shéi
谁 |
dōu
liú lì
都
流利 |
|
HE SPEAKS CHINESE |
SPEAK DE |
COMPARE |
ANY/EVERY (BODY) |
ALL FLUENTLY |
Please also see the notes on the
‘complement
of degree’ construction.
The construction
forms
the
subject
of the sentence in examples
4
and
5.
4.
|
s |
都 |
比 |
o |
verb
phrase |
|
shéi
谁 |
dōu
都 |
bĭ
比 |
tā
他 |
shō Zhōngwén
shuō de liú
lì
说
中
文 说
得 流利 |
|
ANY/EVERY (BODY) |
ALL |
COMPARE |
HIM |
SPEAKS CHINESE SPEAK DE
FLUENTLY |
Anybody can speak Chinese more fluently than he does.
5.
|
topic |
s |
都 |
比 |
o |
verb
phrase |
|
shō Zhōngwén
说 中
文 |
shéi
谁 |
dōu
都 |
bĭ
比 |
tā
他 |
shuō
de
liú lì
说
得
流利 |
|
SPEAKS CHINESE |
ANY/EVERY (BODY) |
ALL |
COMPARE |
HIM |
SPEAK DE
FLUENTLY |
We can see a common feature in the example sentences, which is that the adverb
都dōu
is always placed after the interrogative.
The following examples demonstrate the constructions used with the co-verb
把.
1.
|
s |
把 |
o |
都 |
verb
phrase |
|
tā
他 |
bǎ
把 |
shénme
shì
什么 事 |
dōu
都 |
zuò hǎo
le
作 好
了 |
|
HE |
BA |
ANY/EVERY (THING) |
ALL |
DO COMPLETE LE |
He has done everything.
2.
|
s |
都 |
neg/mv |
把 |
dir. o |
v |
indir. o |
|
shéi
谁 |
dōu/yĕ
都/也 |
bùxiǎng
不想 |
bǎ
把 |
zhèj iànshì
这 件事 |
gàoshu
告诉 |
tā
她 |
|
ANY/EVERY (BODY) |
ALL |
NOT INTEND |
BA |
THIS JIAN MATTER |
TELL |
HER |
Nobody wants to
tell her about this matter.
As with the
比
bĭ construction, if the XX都construction
forms the subject of a sentence,
as in example 2,
都dōu
all
is placed before把bǎ;
while if XX都construction
forms the object of a sentence, as in example 1,
都dōu
all is placed before the main verb.
Exercises
1. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.
-
I have been looking everywhere, but I still can’t find my
shirts.
-
Xiao Wang is both pretty and friendly, so everybody wants to be
her friend.
-
I am so tired that I don’t want to go anywhere this evening.
-
My brother’s classmate can learn languages more quickly than
anyone.
-
He hasn’t bought any new clothes this year.
-
Whatever you say, it’s no good! He won’t listen to anything.
-
Xiao Li spends all his time at home studying and he won’t go out
anywhere.
2. Put the following words in the correct order, and translate them into
English.
-
我
问了
都
谁,
不知道 谁
都
可是
上海
在哪儿.
-
中国饭店
都
能
哪儿
找到.
-
谁
用电脑
都
会
在我们大学.
-
都
爱 吃
中国饭
什么人.