Tā zǒujìnlái de shíhou, dàjiā tūrán dōu xiào le.

When he walked in, everyone suddenly laughed.

Breakdown of Tā zǒujìnlái de shíhou, dàjiā tūrán dōu xiào le.

• 他tā: he
• 都dōu: all
• 了le: perfective particle
• 的de: structural particle
• 大家dàjiā: everyone
• 时候shíhou: time
• 笑xiào: to laugh
• 走进来zǒujìnlái: to walk in
• 突然tūrán: suddenly

Questions & Answers about Tā zǒujìnlái de shíhou, dàjiā tūrán dōu xiào le.

What does 走进来 (zǒujìnlái) literally mean, and how is it built up?

走进来 is a compound directional verb made of:

• 走 – to walk
• 进 – to enter / go in
• 来 – come (toward the speaker or the current reference point)

Put together, 走进来 literally means “walk-enter-come (in)”, i.e. “to walk in (toward us / toward here)”.

So:

• 进来 = come in
• 走进来 = walk in (the manner of coming in is walking)

Why is there a 的 before 时候 in 他走进来的时候? What does that 的 do?

Here, 的 turns the preceding clause into something that modifies a noun, just like a relative clause in English.

• 他走进来 = he walks in
• 他走进来的时候 = the time *when he walked in*

So:

• …的
  • 时候 = “the time when …”
• Grammatically, 他走进来的 is an adjectival clause describing 时候 (time).

Could we also say 他走进来的时候 as 当他走进来时 or 他进来的时候? Is there any difference?

All of these are grammatical and close in meaning, but with small nuances:

• 他走进来的时候

  • Neutral, very common in speech and writing.
  • Slightly emphasizes the action “walk in.”

• 他进来的时候

  • Drops 走, just “when he came in.”
  • More general; you’re not focusing on the fact that he walked specifically.

• 当他走进来时

  • 当 … 时 is a bit more formal / written than …的时候.
  • Feels slightly more literary or “bookish,” but is still common.

For everyday spoken Mandarin, 他走进来的时候 / 他进来的时候 are the most natural choices.

What’s the difference between 进来 and 进来 with 走 in front (i.e. 走进来)?

Both involve entering toward the speaker, but:

• 进来 = come in / enter in (no specific manner)
• 走进来 = walk in (the manner is explicitly walking)

You would choose 走进来 if:

• You want to highlight that he walked in (as opposed to, say, running or rushing in).
• The action of walking is relevant to the description.

In many contexts, 进来 alone would also be acceptable and understood as “(he) came in.”

Why do we have both 大家 and 都 in 大家突然都笑了? Isn’t that redundant?

It’s not redundant; it’s very natural Chinese.

• 大家 = everybody
• 都 = all, both, each; it marks that the whole group does the action.

In practice:

• 大家都笑了 strongly emphasizes that every single person in the group laughed.
• Just 大家笑了 is also possible, but 都 adds clarity and emphasis that no one was left out.

You’ll very often see 大家都 + verb together.

What exactly does 了 do in 笑了? Why not just 笑?

The 了 here is a sentence-final / aspect particle marking a completed event or change of state.

• 大家突然都笑了
  
  • Focuses on the moment when they started laughing; something suddenly happened / changed.
• 大家突然都笑
  
  • This is not natural as a standalone sentence. Without 了, you’d usually need more context, or use a different structure (e.g. 大家突然都在笑, “everyone was (suddenly) laughing”).

So 笑了 tells us:

• The laughing began at that point.
• The situation changed from “not laughing” to “laughing.”

What does 突然 modify here, and can we put it somewhere else in the sentence?

In 大家突然都笑了, 突然 is an adverb meaning “suddenly” and modifies the whole action of everyone laughing.

Common positions:

• 大家突然都笑了。
• 大家都突然笑了。

Both are natural. The nuance is very slight:

• 大家突然都笑了: feels like “everyone, suddenly, laughed.”
• 大家都突然笑了: feels like “everyone all suddenly laughed.”

In everyday speech, both are fine and most speakers won’t feel a strong difference. What you would not normally do is move 突然 after the verb: ✗ 大家都笑突然了 (unnatural).

How do we know this sentence is talking about the past, since there’s no past tense in Chinese?

Chinese doesn’t have verb tenses like English; it uses aspect markers, time words, and context.

Here, “pastness” comes from:

• The aspect particle 了 after 笑, showing the action happened / was completed.
• The structure 他走进来的时候, which introduces a specific time in the past in most storytelling contexts.

So, even without a separate past tense, native speakers automatically interpret it as describing a past event because of 了 and the narrative context.

What is the role of 的时候 in this sentence? Could we drop it and just say 他走进来，大家突然都笑了?

• 的时候 turns the clause 他走进来的 into a time expression:
  
  • 他走进来的时候 = “when he walked in / at the time he walked in.”

If you say:

• 他走进来，大家突然都笑了。
  This is also grammatical and natural. It’s more like a sequence of two events:
  “He walked in, and then everyone suddenly laughed.”

With 的时候, the laughing is explicitly anchored to that moment, “at the time he walked in,” rather than just “after he walked in.” The difference is subtle but 的时候 makes the “when…” relationship extra clear.

Could we say something like 大家突然都在笑 or 大家突然都笑起来了 instead of 大家突然都笑了? What would change?

Yes, and each version has a slightly different focus:

1. 大家突然都笑了。

   • Neutral; focuses on the fact that the laughing began / happened.

2. 大家突然都在笑。

   • Uses 在 to emphasize an ongoing state: “everyone was suddenly laughing.”
   • It sounds more like you’re describing the scene as it was happening.

3. 大家突然都笑起来了。

   • 笑起来 literally “start to laugh / burst into laughter.”
   • Stronger focus on the sudden beginning of the action; often feels a bit more vivid.

All are correct; you choose based on whether you want to stress the fact, the ongoing state, or the sudden start of the laughter.

Is there any difference between 他走进来的时候 and 他走进来的那时候 or 他走进那里的时候?

Yes, they’re not quite the same:

• 他走进来的时候

  • “When he walked in (here / to where we are / to the reference point).”

• 他走进来的那时候

  • Adds 那 (“that”), so: “at that time when he walked in.”
  • Slightly more emphatic / pointing back to a particular time already known in the context.

• 他走进那里的时候

  • 那里 = there; this changes the direction and location focus.
  • Means “when he walked into that place (over there),” not necessarily toward the speaker.

So:

• 来 tends to imply movement toward the speaker / reference point.
• 那里 simply specifies a place, without that “toward me” nuance.