Questions & Answers about tā lián pénzāi dōu méi jiāoshuǐ.
What does 连...都... mean in this sentence?
连...都... is a common pattern meaning even..., often with a sense of surprise, emphasis, or that something is the minimum expected thing.
So in:
他连盆栽都没浇水。
the speaker is emphasizing that he didn't even water the potted plant(s). The idea is that watering the plant should have been easy or expected, but he failed to do even that.
A very natural English gloss is:
He didn’t even water the potted plant(s).
Why is 都 used here? Doesn’t 都 usually mean all?
Yes, 都 often means all, but in the pattern 连...都..., it does not simply mean all.
Here, 都 helps create the emphatic even meaning. In other words:
- 连盆栽都没浇水 = didn’t even water the potted plant(s)
So although 都 by itself often means all, in this grammar pattern it works as part of the structure and adds emphasis.
You can think of 连...都... as a chunk to learn together.
Why do we use 没 instead of 不?