Speak Fluent Chinese

Vocabulary 1-3 都: Entirety, Even, Already & Because


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The opening song, 一路生花, blooming all the way, is a Chinese phrase that people use to wish a wonderful life.
So I wish all you guys, 一路生花.

This is the third vocabulary episode, and I am so keen to get your feedback, so if you could spare some time and drop me a note at [email protected] to share your thoughts, that is going to be so helpful to me to improve the show, I am looking forward to your messages.

And today, let’s keep following the Chinese alphabet and get to our 3rd level 1 character, but this time around, it’s a bit challenging, because it is going to be a polyphonic character, a character that has two different pronunciations.

When it is pronounced as dōu it means:
1. all, both, the entirety;
2. even;
3. already;
4. because;

And when being pronounced as dū, it simply means large and famous city.

And here are the examples in this episode.
First meaning, the entirety.
我和弟弟都很开心, Me and my younger brother are both very happy.
我们全家都去了, My whole family went together.

The 2nd meaning, even, the adverb of degree.
你比我妹妹都好看, You are even more than beautiful than my younger sister.
水都不凉, the water is not even cold.

The third meaning, already, and also a comparison to the 2nd meaning.
水都凉了, the water is already cold.
水都不凉, the water is not even cold.

The fourth meaning, because.
都怪你,我们迟到了。
Because of you, we are late.
都是因为天气,飞机延误了。
Because of the weather, the plane was delayed.

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Speak Fluent ChineseBy Tristan