# 也 and 都 Precede the Verb 4,580 Times

> 也 and 都 stand immediately before the verb in 4,580 clauses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), which is where Chinese puts an adverb.

**Pattern:** subject + 也 / 都 + verb
**HSK level:** 1 — 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'
**Rule used to find it:** 也 or 都 immediately before a word whose dictionary entry offers a verb sense.
**Confidence:** counted — 30 of 4,580 matches checked, 100% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

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.

## Examples

- **Job 42:13** — 他也有七个儿子，三个女儿。
  - tā yě yǒu qī gè ér zi ， sān gè nǚ ér 。
  - He had also seven sons and three daughters.
  - construction: 也有
- **Leviticus 26:29** — 并且你们要吃儿子的肉，也要吃女儿的肉。
  - bìng qiě nǐ men yào chī ér zi de ròu ， yě yào chī nǚ ér de ròu 。
  - You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters.
  - construction: 也要
- **Luke 20:30** — 第二个、第三个也娶过她；
  - dì èr gè 、 dì sān gè yě qǔ guò tā ；
  - The second took her as wife, and he died childless.
  - construction: 也娶
- **John 7:29** — 我却认识他；因为我是从他来的，他也是差了我来。」
  - wǒ què rèn shi tā ； yīn wèi wǒ shì cóng tā lái de ， tā yě shì chāi le wǒ lái 。」
  - I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
  - construction: 也是
- **Matthew 15:10** — 耶稣就叫了众人来，对他们说：「你们要听，也要明白。
  - yē sū jiù jiào le zhòng rén lái ， duì tā men shuō ：「 nǐ men yào tīng ， yě yào míng bai 。
  - He summoned the multitude, and said to them, “Hear, and understand.
  - construction: 也要
- **Mark 14:69** — 那使女看见他，又对旁边站着的人说：「这也是他们一党的。」
  - nà shǐ nǚ kàn jiàn tā ， yòu duì páng biān zhàn zhe de rén shuō ：「 zhè yě shì tā men yì dǎng de 。」
  - The maid saw him and began again to tell those who stood by, “This is one of them.”
  - construction: 也是

## The words this point is built on

| 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.

## What those occurrences are doing

|  | Occurrences | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| the construction | 4,580 | 62% |
| the same words doing something else | 2,862 | 38% |

## Where it occurs most

| 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.

## 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.

Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/grammar/ye-dou

---

- Definitions: CC-CEDICT, licensed CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- If you share this file onward, keep this notice and share alike.
- Character data: Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License / LGPL).
- Bible text: public domain — 和合本 · World English Bible · Louis Segond 1910.
- Built with https://chinese-bible.com