都【dōu】

都 means "all" or "both". It goes before the verb, and it refers back to the plural thing that comes before it.

都 looks backwards

Whatever 都 sums up has to come before it. When the object is what is "all", it moves to the front of the sentence as the topic.

• × 都我们是学生 → 我们都是学生
• × 我都喜欢这些菜 → 这些菜我都喜欢

With a negative, position changes the meaning

都不 negates everything; 不都 negates the "all".

都 with question words and 每

谁都, 什么都, 哪儿都 turn a question word into "every" – or, under negation, "none".

每 nearly always needs 都 later in the sentence.