Adverbs with logical function: 也 yG, 都 dDu, 还/還 hái, 就 jiù, 只 zhH, and 才 cái 15.2
Since 也 yě introduces additional information it can sometimes be translated by ‘and’ in English.
However, it is very different from English ‘and.’ ‘And’ can connect almost any kind of phrase;
也 yě can only occur before verbs or verb phrases.
Compare this Mandarin example and its English translation.
我学中文，也学中国历史。
我學中文，也學中國歷史。
Wǒ xué Zhōngwén, yě xué Zhōngguó lìshǐ.
I study Chinese and I also study Chinese history.
Chinese conjunctions that join noun phrases and convey the meaning of the English ‘and’ include
和 hé and 跟 gēn.
我学中文和中国历史。
我學中文和中國歷史。
Wǒ xué Zhōngwén hé Zhōngguó lìshǐ.
I study Chinese and Chinese history.
C40.715.2.2 都 dDu ‘all, both’
都 dōu can indicate that a verb phrase is true for the entire subject.
我们都学中文。
我們都學中文。
Wǒmen dōu xué Zhōngwén.
We all study Chinese.
小王和小李都学中文。
小王和小李都學中文。
Xiǎo Wáng hé Xiǎo Lǐ dōu xué Zhōngwén.
Little Wang and Little Li both study Chinese.
都 dōu can indicate that a verb is true for multiple objects. Typically, when 都 dōu refers to
objects, the objects occur before the verb as the topic of the sentence.
中文，日文，他都学。
中文，日文，他都學。
Zhōngwén, Rìwén, tā dōu xué.
Chinese, Japanese, he studies them both.
C57.1都 dōu before a verb without an object can be used to express the meaning ‘completely.’
我都懂。
Wǒ dōu dǒng.
I understand everything.
都 dōu can occur with a question word to indicate that something is universally true.
她什么都会。
她甚麼都會。
Tā shénme dōu huì.
She can do everything.
她什么时候都很忙。
她甚麼時候都很忙。
Tā shénme shíhòu dōu hěn máng.
She is always busy.
C46.4