Sentence pattern · Band 4
连……都……: even
连 A 都/也 B
连 picks the most extreme example it can find and hands it to 都: even water he will not drink, even the name he does not know. The pattern insists that if even this one holds, imagine the rest. English builds a whole even clause; Mandarin bolts 连 onto the star witness and lets 都 deliver the punchline.
Hear it in a sentence
Mistakes people make
连 holds the extreme example, 都 sweeps right after it, then the verb with its 不.
The order inside is fixed: 连 · example · 都 · 不 · verb; 不 never slides in front of 都.
Words in this pattern
Quick answers
What does 连……都/也…… mean?
连 picks the most extreme example it can find and hands it to 都: even water he will not drink, even the name he does not know. The pattern insists that if even this one holds, imagine the rest. English builds a whole even clause; Mandarin bolts 连 onto the star witness and lets 都 deliver the punchline.
How do you build it?
连 A 都/也 B
What is the most common mistake?
他连都水不喝。 → 他连水都不喝。
连 holds the extreme example, 都 sweeps right after it, then the verb with its 不.
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