Learn Hardcore Chinese: jīntiān chāoshì de yīfu dōu dǎzhé. - The clothes in the supermarket are all on sale today.

超市的衣服 literally = “the supermarket’s clothes”
More naturally in English: “the clothes in the supermarket” or “the clothes sold by the supermarket.”

Here, 超市 (supermarket) is describing/limiting 衣服 (clothes), and 的 is the marker that connects them.

You could also say:

超市里的衣服 – “the clothes inside the supermarket”

Here 里 adds an explicit sense of location (“inside”), but 超市的衣服 by itself is already very natural and common.

What does 都 (dōu) do here? Does it mean “all”?

Yes. 都 is an adverb meaning “all / both / without exception.”

In 今天超市的衣服都打折, the structure is:

今天 – today (time word)
超市的衣服 – the clothes in the supermarket (subject)
都 – all
打折 – are discounted

So 都 tells you that every item in that set (“the supermarket’s clothes”) is discounted, not just some of them.

Position rule:
都 usually appears after the subject (or “topic”) and before the verb:

我们都去。= We’re all going.
超市的衣服都打折。= The supermarket’s clothes are all discounted.

What exactly does 打折 (dǎzhé) mean? Why doesn’t the sentence specify a percentage?

打折 literally is “to give a discount / to discount,” but in natural English it often corresponds to:

“to be on sale”
“to be discounted”

In this sentence, 打折 is used without a number, so it just means “are on sale / are discounted” in a general sense.

If you want to specify the amount, you add a number before 折:

打八折 – “to sell at 80% of the original price” (20% off)
打五折 – “to sell at 50% of the original price” (50% off)

So:

今天超市的衣服打折。
= Today the supermarket’s clothes are on sale (some kind of discount).
今天超市的衣服打八折。
= Today the supermarket’s clothes are 20% off.

Why don’t we say “都是打折” with 是 (shì) in the middle?

In Chinese, 是 is not used before a verb the way English “to be” is.

是 is mainly used to link a subject to a noun (or sometimes a pronoun), like:
- 他是老师。= He is a teacher.
- 这是我的书。= This is my book.

But 打折 is a verb phrase (“to discount / be discounted”), so you do not normally put 是 before it.

✅ 今天超市的衣服都打折。
❌ 今天超市的衣服都是打折。

Using 都是打折 would sound wrong or very unnatural, because it tries to make 打折 into a noun-like predicate after 是. Just treat 打折 as the main verb and don’t insert 是.

Can I change the word order? For example, is “超市的衣服今天都打折” also correct?

Yes, 超市的衣服今天都打折 is grammatical and natural. The main patterns are:

今天超市的衣服都打折。
→ Time word 今天 at the beginning (very common).
超市的衣服今天都打折。
→ Puts focus a bit more clearly on the clothes first; the time is mentioned after the subject.

In both sentences, the core structure (subject) + 都 + 打折 is unchanged.

What you can’t do is scramble them randomly, e.g.:

❌ 今天都超市的衣服打折。 (wrong order: 都 shouldn’t separate 今天 from the subject phrase this way)

Good rule of thumb:

Time words (今天, 明天, 现在, etc.) normally go near the beginning.
都 goes right before the verb (after the subject/topic).

How do we know the tense? Does this mean “are on sale,” “were on sale,” or “will be on sale”?

Chinese doesn’t mark tense the same way English does. There is no built-in past / present / future marking in 打折 itself.

In 今天超市的衣服都打折, we rely on 今天 (today) and context:

Usually interpreted as present or near future:
- “(Today) the supermarket’s clothes are all on sale.”
- “(Today) the supermarket’s clothes will all be on sale.”

If you want to show it already happened, you might add 了 and/or change the time word:

昨天超市的衣服都打折了。
= Yesterday the supermarket’s clothes were all on sale.

For a clearly future meaning, you can add something like 会:

明天超市的衣服都会打折。
= Tomorrow the supermarket’s clothes will all be on sale.

Why don’t we use 在 (zài) here, like “都在打折”?

在 + verb usually marks an ongoing action (progressive aspect), like English “be doing”:

他在吃饭。= He is eating.
我们在开会。= We are having a meeting.

But 打折 here is not so much an ongoing action like “someone is currently discounting the clothes”; it describes a state / condition: “the clothes are (in a state of) being discounted / on sale.”

So:

都打折 → natural way to state that the clothes are on sale (their current status).
都在打折 → can sound like “they (the store) are in the process of discounting (things) right now.” It’s more about the ongoing activity, not just the price status.

In most shop-sign / announcement contexts, simple 打折 is used to describe the situation:
全场打折 = “the whole store is on sale.”

Why isn’t there a measure word like 件 (jiàn) before 衣服?

Measure words are normally used when you specify “how many” or use this/that:

三件衣服 = three pieces of clothing
这件衣服 = this piece of clothing

In 超市的衣服, we are talking about clothes in general at the supermarket, not counting them. In that case, Chinese can just use the noun 衣服 directly without a measure word.

So:

超市的衣服都打折。
= The clothes in the supermarket are all on sale.

If you really wanted to talk about a specific number of items, you would add a measure word and number:

超市的三件衣服都打折。
= The three pieces of clothing in the supermarket are all on sale.

Could we say “超市里衣服都打折” instead of “超市的衣服都打折”?

超市里衣服都打折 is understandable, but it sounds a bit awkward/unfinished. More natural options are:

超市的衣服都打折。
超市里的衣服都打折。

Difference in nuance:

超市的衣服 – “the supermarket’s clothes,” the goods that belong to or are sold by the supermarket.
超市里的衣服 – “the clothes inside the supermarket,” emphasizing physical location.

Both are natural choices here. If you use 里, you almost always say 超市里的衣服, not just 超市里衣服 in this kind of noun phrase.

What is the subject of the sentence? Is it 今天, 超市, or 衣服?

The structure is:

今天 – time word (adverbial)
超市的衣服 – subject noun phrase
都 – adverb (“all”)
打折 – verb (“are discounted / are on sale”)

So the subject is 超市的衣服 (“the supermarket’s clothes”).

今天 is not the subject; it’s a time adverbial telling us when this is true.
The full subject phrase is “the supermarket’s clothes”, and that’s the thing we’re saying are “all discounted.”

In short:
今天 (when) + 超市的衣服 (subject) + 都 (all) + 打折 (verb).