To express negation such as NOBODY, NOTHING, NOWHERE, NOT EVEN A LITTLE, NOT EVEN ONE… we use a special construction…
Let´s see how it works on simple examples:
我什么都不要。
<Wǒ shénme dōu bú yào.>
I what dou not to want.
I DON’T WANT ANYTHING.
我谁都不认识。
<Wǒ shuí dōu bú rènshi.>
I who dou not to know.
I DON’T KNOW ANYBODY.
我哪儿都不去。
<Wǒ nǎ’er dōu bú qù.>
I where duo not to go.
I DON’T GO ANYWHERE.
- question words turn into negation (what-nothing, who-noone, where-nowhere)
- integral and inevitable part of this construction is a word 都 <dōu> (in some cases better to use 也 <yě>)
- changed word order (subject-verb-object doesn´t work here), verb is in the end.
他什么问题都没有。
<Tā shénme wèntí dōu méiyǒu.>
He what problem dou not to have.
HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY PROBLEM.
.
我一个中国朋友也没有。
<Wǒ yīge Zhōngguó péngyǒu yě méiyǒu.>
I one Chinese friend ye not to have.
I DON’T HAVE EVEN ONE CHINESE FRIEND. (Instead of <dōu> we used <yě>)
你一点也不要吗?
<Nǐ yīdiǎn yě búyào ma?>
You a bit ye not to want ma?
YOU DON’T WANT EVEN A LITTLE BIT?
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Third chapter of storyline about Kif Gren is dedicated to this theme…