HSK 1 · Particles

都 dōu “all” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 都 means

  1. all, both
  2. entirely
  3. (used for emphasis) even
  4. already
  5. (not) at all

How to say 都

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale都dōu1st tone, high and level

都 in a sentence

  1. 大家都认识他的名字。

    Dàjiā dōu rènshi tā de míngzi.

    Everybody knows his name.

    Sentence #381932 from Tatoeba

  2. 他们都是一样的吗？

    Tāmen dōu shì yíyàng de ma?

    Are they all the same?

    Sentence #334427 from Tatoeba

  3. 我们都非常喜欢你。

    Wǒmen dōu fēicháng xǐhuan nǐ.

    We all like you a lot.

    Sentence #510780 from Tatoeba

How 都 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 都 (dōu) with each of its parts in a different colour
都dōuall; both; entirely
  • 者that which · zhěSound part
  • 阝placeMeaning part

阝 hints at the meaning (place); 者 (zhě) hints at the sound. Compare it with dōu.

How to write 都

都 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

都 (dōu) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 都 (dōu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 都

Words with 都

首都shǒudū · capital (city)

More words: Particles & Connectors

了le · aspect particle吗ma · question particle呢ne · question particle不bù · no很hěn · very太tài · too和hé · and吧ba · suggestion particle

FAQs

都 (dōu) means “all, both” or “entirely”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it dōu: dōu with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 都 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 都 from the suggestions. Typing dou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
都 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.