The Mandarin 连...都/也 Construction: How to Say 'Even', and Why the Word Has to Move

The frame has two halves

连 (lián) is not the Chinese for 'even'. It is the opening bracket of a pattern, and the pattern is:

(Subject) + 连lián (lián) + emphasised element + 都dōu (dōu) / 也yě (yě) + Verb

Both markers are load-bearing. 连 (lián) announces that something surprising is coming; 都 (dōu) or 也 (yě) closes the frame and lets the verb happen.

Read the frame as a promise and its payment. 连 (lián) makes the promise: 'you are not going to believe which one'. 都 (dōu) pays it: 'and here is what happened to it'.

Why the emphasised element has to move

This is the part that feels alien, and it is worth understanding rather than memorising, because it is the same rule that governs half of Mandarin's word order.

都 (dōu) is an adverb, and Mandarin adverbs sit in front of the verb. But 都 (dōu) is a particular kind of adverb: it sums up, and it sums up what has already been said. It looks backwards, never forwards. So anything 都 (dōu) is meant to gather up has to be sitting to its left by the time the listener gets there.

That single fact forces the object out of its normal post-verb slot:

• 他不知道这件事。 (tā bù zhī dào zhè jiàn shì.) - He doesn't know about this. Plain SVO, object after the verb.
• 他连这件事都不知道。 (tā lián zhè jiàn shì dōu bù zhī dào.) - He doesn't even know about THIS. Object fronted, behind 连 (lián) and in front of 都 (dōu).

You cannot leave the object where it was. 他连不知道这件事 (tā lián bù zhī dào zhè jiàn shì) is not a sentence: 都 (dōu) has nothing behind it to sum up, and the frame never closes.

This makes 连...都 the cleanest case of topic fronting in the language. Elsewhere fronting is a stylistic choice; here it is compulsory, and the two markers show you exactly where the fronted element starts and stops.

都 (dōu) or 也 (yě): pick either, but pick one

Both work. 都 (dōu) is much commoner and is the safe default. 也 (yě) is a shade softer and turns up more in writing, in negative sentences, and in the minimum idiom below.

• 连一句话也没说。 (lián yí jù huà yě méi shuō.) - He didn't say a single word.
• 连一句话都没说。 (lián yí jù huà dōu méi shuō.) - Same sentence, same meaning.

There is no rule to learn between them and no meaning riding on the choice, which is unusual enough in Mandarin to be worth saying plainly. If in doubt, use 都 (dōu).

What you cannot do is use neither. That is the error, and it is the only one in this section that matters.

Not even: where the negation goes

Negation lives after the adverb and immediately before the verb, exactly where it would live in any ordinary sentence. The frame does not disturb it.

连lián (lián) + X + 都dōu (dōu) / 也yě (yě) + 不bù (bù) / 没méi (méi) + Verb

• 连老师都不知道。 (lián lǎo shī dōu bù zhī dào.) - Even the teacher doesn't know.
• 他连门都没关。 (tā lián mén dōu méi guān.) - He didn't even close the door.
• 他连自己的名字都不会写。 (tā lián zì jǐ de míng zi dōu bú huì xiě.) - He can't even write his own name.

Choose 不 (bù) or 没 (méi) on the usual grounds: 不 (bù) for habits, states, present and future, 没 (méi) for a completed action that did not happen. The frame changes nothing about that decision.

The one place learners misfire is putting the negation before the adverb. 连老师不都知道 (lián lǎo shī bù dōu zhī dào) is wrong, and worse than wrong, because 不都 (bù dōu) is a real thing that means 'not all', so the sentence reads as a garbled 'not all of the teacher'.

The one-unit minimum: 连一 + classifier

This is the pattern's highest-value use, and there is no neat English equivalent short of stress and emphasis. Take the smallest possible quantity of something, put it in the frame, and negate it. The result is 'not a single one'.

连lián (lián) + 一yī (yī) + classifier + noun + 都dōu (dōu) / 也yě (yě) + 没méi (méi) / 不bù (bù) + Verb

• 连一个人都没有。 (lián yí ge rén dōu méi yǒu.) - There wasn't a single person.
• 连一句话也没说。 (lián yí jù huà yě méi shuō.) - He didn't say a single word.
• 连一分钱都没有。 (lián yì fēn qián dōu méi yǒu.) - He hasn't got a penny.
• 连一个字也没写。 (lián yí ge zì yě méi xiě.) - He didn't write a single character.

The 一 (yī) and its classifier are both compulsory. 连一人都没有 (lián yì rén dōu méi yǒu) drops the classifier and reads as clipped, bookish Chinese rather than the ordinary spoken sentence you wanted.

A close relative repeats the verb instead of counting a noun: 连 (lián) + verb + 都 (dōu) + 没 (méi) + the same verb.

• 连看都没看。 (lián kàn dōu méi kàn.) - He didn't even look.
• 连想都没想。 (lián xiǎng dōu méi xiǎng.) - He didn't even think about it.

The first copy of the verb is the emphasised element sitting in the frame; the second is the actual predicate. It sounds odd written out and completely natural in speech.

What you cannot drop

The two markers are not equally optional, and the difference is worth being precise about.

都dōu (dōu) / 也yě (yě) can never be dropped. Without one of them the frame does not close and the sentence is ungrammatical. 连他不知道 (lián tā bù zhī dào) is simply broken.

连lián (lián) is the one that looks droppable and is not, in practice. 他都不知道 (tā dōu bù zhī dào) is a grammatical string, and in the right context a native speaker will hear the 'even' reading in it. But it is ambiguous: 都 (dōu) has other jobs, and without 连 (lián) the listener has to work out from stress and context which one is running. Treat 连 (lián) as compulsory when you are producing, and recognise the bare-都 version when you meet it.

Summary: drop 都 (dōu) and you have made an error. Drop 连 (lián) and you have made a guess.

连 (lián) and 把 (bǎ) do not stack

Both constructions front the object, and they compete for the same slot. You use one or the other, never both on the same noun.

• 他把门关了。 (tā bǎ mén guān le.) - He closed the door. (Disposal: 把 fronts the object.)
• 他连门都没关。 (tā lián mén dōu méi guān.) - He didn't even close the door. (Emphasis: 连 fronts the object.)
• 他连把门都没关 (tā lián bǎ mén dōu méi guān) - WRONG. Two fronting markers on one object.

When you want the 'even' reading, 连 (lián) takes over the fronting job and 把 (bǎ) drops out entirely. This is easier than it sounds: the two constructions want different sentences anyway. 把 (bǎ) is for reporting a result, 连 (lián) is for registering surprise.

Register

连...都 is fully neutral. It belongs in conversation, in messaging, in essays and in the news alike, which makes it one of the more comfortable B1 patterns to over-use rather than under-use.

Two notes on the edges of it:

• 甚至 (shèn zhì) is the formal, written 'even'. It is an adverb rather than a frame, so it needs no partner: 他甚至不知道这件事。 (tā shèn zhì bù zhī dào zhè jiàn shì.) Use it in writing when a second 连...都 in the same paragraph would be one too many. The two also combine: 甚至连他都不知道 (shèn zhì lián tā dōu bù zhī dào).
• The 也 (yě) version leans slightly literary and slightly softer. In a text message you will mostly see 都 (dōu); in a novel you will see both.

Worked examples

1. 连他都不知道。 (lián tā dōu bù zhī dào.) - Even he doesn't know. The emphasised element is the subject, so nothing has to move; 都 still closes the frame.
2. 他连这件事都不知道。 (tā lián zhè jiàn shì dōu bù zhī dào.) - He doesn't even know about this. Object fronted out of its post-verb slot, because 都 sums up leftwards.
3. 连一个人都没有。 (lián yí ge rén dōu méi yǒu.) - There wasn't a single person. The minimum idiom: 一 plus classifier plus negation.
4. 连看都没看。 (lián kàn dōu méi kàn.) - He didn't even look. Verb copied into the frame, then used properly after the negation.
5. 他连自己的名字都不会写。 (tā lián zì jǐ de míng zi dōu bú huì xiě.) - He can't even write his own name. The modal 会 sits with the verb, after the negation, not before 都.
6. 连星期天都要上班。 (lián xīng qī tiān dōu yào shàng bān.) - He has to work even on Sunday. A time word can be the emphasised element too; it is already in front of the verb, so nothing moves.

Common mistakes

1. Dropping 都dōu (dōu) or 也yě (yě). The commonest error by a distance, because English needs no second word. 连他不知道 (lián tā bù zhī dào) is not a sentence. Say 连他都不知道 (lián tā dōu bù zhī dào).
2. Leaving the object after the verb. 他连不知道这件事 (tā lián bù zhī dào zhè jiàn shì) fails because 都 has nothing behind it. Front the object: 他连这件事都不知道 (tā lián zhè jiàn shì dōu bù zhī dào).
3. Negating before the adverb. 不 (bù) and 没 (méi) go after 都 (dōu) / 也 (yě), never in front. 连老师不都知道 (lián lǎo shī bù dōu zhī dào) is wrong, and 不都 (bù dōu) means 'not all', so the sentence lands somewhere you did not intend.
4. Dropping the classifier in the minimum idiom. 连一人都没有 (lián yì rén dōu méi yǒu) wants its measure word: 连一个人都没有 (lián yí ge rén dōu méi yǒu).
5. Stacking 连lián (lián) on 把bǎ (bǎ). 他连把门都没关 (tā lián bǎ mén dōu méi guān) uses two fronting markers on one object. Pick one: 他连门都没关 (tā lián mén dōu méi guān).
6. Putting 连lián (lián) after the emphasised word. 连 (lián) opens the frame, so it goes in front of the thing being emphasised, not behind it. 一句话连也没说 (yí jù huà lián yě méi shuō) is back to front; say 连一句话也没说 (lián yí jù huà yě méi shuō).

See also

• Topic-comment structure - the general habit of fronting that 连...都 turns into a hard rule.
• 除了...以外: apart from and besides - the other two-part frame at this level, and the other place where a second-half adverb decides the whole meaning.
• Negation: 不 (bù) vs 没 (méi) - which negator goes into the slot after 都 (dōu), and why the choice is unaffected by the frame.
• The 把 (bǎ) construction - the other object-fronting marker, and why the two never appear together.
• Word order - where adverbs like 都 (dōu) sit, and why they look backwards rather than forwards.