City University of Hong Kong CLASS CLASS
Making Sense of Grammar
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asked Feb 1, 2021 in Questions about Chinese Grammar by Ariel (34,480 points) | 187 views

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每měi ‘every’, like a demonstrative, is normally followed by a measure. It is also regularly linked with the adverb 都dōu:

这儿的每个孩子都很活泼。

Zhè ér de měi gè hái zǐ dōu hěn huó pō。

All the children here are very lively.

你的每本书都很有趣。

Nǐ de měi běn shū dōu hěn yǒu qù。

All your books are interesting. /Every one of your books is interesting.

他每天都到河边去钓鱼。

Tā měi tiān dōu dào hé biān qù diào yú。

He goes to the river every day to do some fishing.

Like a demonstrative, it is also often followed by a numeral + measure phrase. In these cases it is not necessarily linked with 都dōu, and there is generally another numeral + measure phrase in the predicate:

我们每两个月去一次。

Wǒ men měi liǎng gè yuè qù yī cì。

We go/went there every two months.

每三个小时吃两粒。

Měi sān gè xiǎo shí chī liǎng lì。

Take two pills every three hours.

[1] Yip, P. C., Rimmington, D., Xiaoming, Z., & Henson, R. (2009). Basic Chinese: a grammar and workbook. Taylor & Francis.
answered Feb 1, 2021 by Ariel (34,480 points)

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