53.8 The Pronoun 全部 cyun4 bou6 (‘all’)
The pronoun 全部 cyun4 bou6 means ‘all’. We can use 全部 cyun4 bou6 to refer to all the items in a context.
不如買晒全部啦。
bat1 jyu4 maai5 saai3 cyun4 bou6 laa1.
Why don’t you buy all?
In Grammar and Vocabulary 28.7, we learned that when using 晒 saai3, we sometimes move the object of the sentence to the beginning of the sentence, making it the topic of the sentence. We also do so when the object is 全部 cyun4 bou6.
不如買晒全部啦。
bat1 jyu4 maai5 saai3 cyun4 bou6 laa1.
Why don’t you buy all?
↓
不如全部買晒啦。
bat1 jyu4 cyun4 bou6 maai5 saai3 laa1.
Why don’t you buy all?
When we put 全部 cyun4 bou6 before the verb in a sentence, we usually add the adverb 都 dou1 (‘all’) before the verb to emphasize that what we say applies to all the items.
不如全部都買晒啦。
bat1 jyu4 cyun4 bou6 dou1 maai5 saai3 laa1.
Why don’t you buy all?
If the sentence is a sentence with a predicative adjective, we put 都 dou1 before the degree word.
全部都好靚。
cyun4 bou6 dou1 hou2 leng3.
All are very beautiful.
We can add a noun after 全部 cyun4 bou6 to indicate which type of item we are referring to.
不如全部色都買晒啦。
bat1 jyu4 cyun4 bou6 sik1 dou1 maai5 saai3 laa1.
Why don’t you buy all the colors?
全部色都好靚。
cyun4 bou6 sik1 dou1 hou2 leng3.
All the colors are very beautiful.
全部 cyun4 bou6 usually refers to three or more items. If there are only two items, we often use 兩 loeng5 with the classifier for the item to refer to both of the two items.
不如兩件都買晒啦。
bat1 jyu4 loeng5 gin6 dou1 maai5 saai3 laa1.
Why don’t you buy both [tops]?
不如兩隻色都買晒啦。
bat1 jyu4 loeng5 zek3 sik1 dou1 maai5 saai3 laa1.
Why don’t you buy both colors?
兩件都好靚。
loeng5 gin6 dou1 hou2 leng3.
Both [tops] are very beautiful.
兩隻色都好靚。
loeng5 zek3 sik1 dou1 hou2 leng3.
Both colors are very beautiful.