hěnduō xuéshēng dōu hěn xiànmù tā de shēnghuó.

student

Breakdown of hěnduō xuéshēng dōu hěn xiànmù tā de shēnghuó.

• 很hěn: very
• 的de: possessive particle
• 都dōu: all

Questions & Answers about hěnduō xuéshēng dōu hěn xiànmù tā de shēnghuó.

In this sentence, which part is the subject, which is the verb, and which is the object?

The sentence 很多学生都很羡慕她的生活。 is essentially:

• Subject: 很多学生 (hěn duō xuéshēng – many students)
• Adverb: 都 (dōu – all)
• Degree adverb: 很 (hěn – very / quite)
• Verb: 羡慕 (xiànmù – to envy, to admire)
• Object: 她的生活 (tā de shēnghuó – her life / lifestyle)

So its structure is:

[Subject] 很多学生 + [Adverb] 都 + [Degree Adv] 很 + [Verb] 羡慕 + [Object] 她的生活

Why do we need both 很多 (hěn duō, “many”) and 都 (dōu, “all”)? Isn’t that redundant?

They are not redundant; they do different jobs.

• 很多 tells you how many students there are: many students.
• 都 tells you that within that group, the statement applies to every member: they all (each of them) feel this way.

So:

• 很多学生很羡慕她的生活。
  = Many students envy her life. (Some of the many, not necessarily all.)

• 很多学生都很羡慕她的生活。
  = Many students all envy her life. (There’s a large group, and within that group, basically each one does.)

In English, we normally would just say “Many students envy her life,” but in Chinese it’s very natural to combine a quantity word like 很多 with 都 to mean “a lot of them, and within that set, each one.”

Can I leave out 都 and just say 很多学生很羡慕她的生活? What changes?