niúròu, yángròu, dòufu hé mógu dōu mǎiqí le.

all

Breakdown of niúròu, yángròu, dòufu hé mógu dōu mǎiqí le.

• 和hé: and
• 了le: change-of-state particle

Questions & Answers about niúròu, yángròu, dòufu hé mógu dōu mǎiqí le.

Why is 和 used only before the last item in the list?

In Chinese, when listing several nouns, it is very common to separate most items with 、 and then optionally use 和 before the last item, much like A, B, C, and D in English.

So:

• 牛肉、羊肉、豆腐和蘑菇
• = beef, lamb, tofu, and mushrooms

You do not normally put 和 between every item.

Natural patterns include:

• A、B、C和D
• sometimes just A、B、C、D without 和

What is the difference between 、 and 和 here?

They do different jobs:

• 、 is a punctuation mark used for listing items.
• 和 is a word meaning and.

So in this sentence:

• 牛肉、羊肉、豆腐和蘑菇

the 、 separates items in a list, and 和 links the final item to the rest of the list.

A rough English equivalent would be:

• beef, lamb, tofu, and mushrooms

Why is there a 都 in the sentence?