也 and 都 Precede the Verb 4,580 Times
Answering: “where do adverbs go in Chinese”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
Chinese puts 'also' and 'all' in front of the verb, never after it or at the end. 都 looks back at whatever it quantifies, so 他们都 means 'they all', not 'all of them are'.
- HSK level
- 1
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 4,580
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Genesis
- where it is commonest
- How sure
- Counted
- 100% of a checked sample
Practise it
Tap the words that carry the pattern.
，。
The same verses, in full
Easiest first: ranked by how much of each verse sits at or below HSK 1, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
他tā也yě有yǒu七qī个gè儿子ér zi，三sān个gè女儿nǚ ér。
He had also seven sons and three daughters.
Job 42:13 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
并且bìng qiě你们nǐ men要yào吃chī儿子ér zi的de肉ròu，也yě要yào吃chī女儿nǚ ér的de肉ròu。
You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters.
Leviticus 26:29 · 92% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
第二dì èr个gè、第dì三sān个gè也yě娶qǔ过guò她tā；
The second took her as wife, and he died childless.
Luke 20:30 · 89% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
我wǒ却què认识rèn shi他tā；因为yīn wèi我wǒ是shì从cóng他tā来lái的de，他tā也yě是shì差chāi了le我wǒ来lái。」
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
John 7:29 · 89% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
耶稣yē sū就jiù叫jiào了le众人zhòng rén来lái，对duì他们tā men说shuō：「你们nǐ men要yào听tīng，也yě要yào明白míng bai。
He summoned the multitude, and said to them, “Hear, and understand.
Matthew 15:10 · 87% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
那nà使shǐ女nǚ看见kàn jiàn他tā，又yòu对duì旁边páng biān站zhàn着zhe的de人rén说shuō：「这zhè也yě是shì他们tā men一党yì dǎng的de。」
The maid saw him and began again to tell those who stood by, “This is one of them.”
Mark 14:69 · 84% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Job 42 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 1 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 1 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
English can put also at the start of a sentence, after the subject, or at the end. Chinese cannot: 也 and 都 sit between the subject and the verb, and nowhere else. 他们都要 is they all will; there is no version of it with the quantifier trailing behind.
都 also looks backwards rather than forwards. It quantifies whatever has already been mentioned, so 凡有气息的都要赞美耶和华 reads as everything that has breath — all of it — praise the LORD. A reader who takes 都 as an adverb of the verb will misread the scope of a great many verses.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 也 3,748 times, 都 3,694 times. 2,862 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
It is commonest in Genesis, with 250 of them, and 71% of all of them fall in the Old Testament — which is mostly a statement about length, since the Old Testament is the longer part of the book.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|
| 也 | yě | 1 | 3,748 |
| 都 | dōu | 1 | 3,668 |
| 都 | dū | 1 | 26 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 1.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 4,580 | 62% |
| the same words doing something else | 2,862 | 38% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Genesis | 250 |
| Psalms | 246 |
| Isaiah | 210 |
| Ezekiel | 208 |
| Exodus | 204 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
Counted
The rule: 也 or 都 immediately before a word whose dictionary entry offers a verb sense.
30 of 4,580 matches were drawn at random and read in context; 100% were right. Checked by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker. Recall is not measured: this is what the rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
This point is HSK 1 because that is the highest HSK level of the point's own function words, as data/dict.json grades them; a word the HSK lists do not grade sends the point to 'beyond'.
Questions
- Can 也 and 都 appear together?
- Yes, and in that order: 也都. The Bible uses it where a second group is being included and then taken as a whole.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 4,580 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 7,442 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Genesis, with 250 — followed by Psalms (246), Isaiah (210), Ezekiel (208).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 也 or 都 immediately before a word whose dictionary entry offers a verb sense. 30 of its 4,580 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 100% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
Related reference pages
Take it further
- 97 ready-made vocabulary decks — by HSK level, by book or by topic, exportable to Anki, Pleco or Quizlet.
- Printable 田字格 worksheets — passages with pinyin, meanings and tracing rows.
- The parallel reader — Chinese, pinyin and your own language side by side, every word tappable.
- The dataset behind these numbers — plain JSON, free to reuse with attribution.
How this was measured
Edition: Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified). Every figure comes from one pass over all 1,189 chapters and 31,021 verses, 650,628word tokens in total, using the site’s own segmentation. A construction count is published only when a hand-checked sample of the rule that found it was at least 90% correct; between 70% and that it is published as an approximation, and below it no count is published at all. Generated 2026-09-26.