Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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个个 · 天天 · 件件 — Doubling the Measure Word
量词的重叠「MM＋都」— 个个都、天天都
Say the measure word twice and 都 arrives: 学生们个个都很可爱, 我天天都运动, 你的衣服件件都很漂亮. Every single one, with feeling.
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Memory hook
MM + 都 = every single one
Counting them off with pleasure
Three from the deck, then the stereotype game. Hear the doubled measure word land like a drumbeat before 都.
Tap any line to hear it
Every single one一个都不落
No pressure — just making it stick.
学生们____都很可爱。
Xuésheng men ____ Dōu hěn kě'ài.
The students are, every one of them, adorable.
You do, honestly. Which reply agrees in the same frame?
Every piece of your clothing is beautiful.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
新疆的羊____都很肥。
Xīnjiāng de yáng ____ Dōu hěn féi.
Xinjiang's sheep are every one of them fat.
Your turn — say it
我天天都运动。
I exercise every single day.
荷兰人____都很高。
Hélánrén ____ Dōu hěn gāo.
The Dutch are all tall.
Double the right measure word for each line.
Tap a word to fill the next gap; tap a filled sentence to clear it. Every word is used once.
Word bank
0/5Every one of them, in pictures看图数一数
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four groups from the deck. Match each picture, then say MM都 about it — 个个都 / 只只都 / 件件都.
Tap a picture, then choose its word. Picked wrong? Tap that picture and choose again. Match all the cards to finish.
Your turn — say it
学生们个个都很可爱。
The students are, every one of them, adorable.
Sichuan people eat hotpot every single day.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
Your turn — say it
英国人天天都喝茶。
The British drink tea every single day.
This lesson's characters
The measure word for clothes, the sheep it doubles for, and the exercise you do 天天.
item; measure word for clothes and matters
会two ideas joined
A person 亻 and an ox 牛: the old sense was to divide an ox into portions, and a portion became an item — one of a set. 一件衣服 is one garment, 一件事 is one matter, and 件件都很漂亮 counts through the wardrobe piece by piece. Clothes worn on the upper body and coats take 件; trousers and skirts take 条.
sheep, goat
象drawn from life
Two curling horns on top, the face and body below — a sheep's head seen from the front. The oldest forms are unmistakable. 羊肉 is lamb, the food of Xinjiang and the north; 山羊, the mountain sheep, is a goat. And because sheep meant plenty, 羊 hides inside 美, beautiful — a big sheep — and 鲜, fresh: fish and sheep together.
to move, to transport; luck
形meaning + sound
The walking radical 辶 with 云, cloud, for the sound: things moving along like clouds — to transport, to move. 运动 is movement, exercise, sport; 幸运 is good luck, fortune moving your way; 春运 is the great Spring Festival migration. 我天天都运动 — I keep myself moving, every day.
Take these with you
Everything worth taking away. Tap any line to hear it.
Words 生词
Characters 汉字
Before you go课后回顾
- Say the two versions side by side — 每个学生都很可爱 and 学生们个个都很可爱 — and feel the second one smile. That warmth is the whole lesson.
- Play the stereotype game with a Chinese friend, your own country first. Count how many 都s you say before someone laughs.
- Keep the measure word honest: 个个 for people, 件件 for clothes, 只只 for animals, 天天 for days. The doubled word is only as good as the single one underneath.