# 都是這樣玩的嗎?



## Corbo

What is that supposed to mean? I think I understand it but I want to be 100% sure. I know the 是。。。的 construction, but I'm really confused about this 都.

btw I got it from this YT ad (don't ask).


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## philchinamusical

In China mainland Mandarin, "都" means "both" or "all".

The point here is "玩". It can be referring to "play", or "operate", or "proceed", or "taking place", or ... other similar meanings, depending on the contexts. It has more meanings in daily use.

From the pic you posted, the whole sentence shall be "继母都是这样玩的吗？". And per the image, I think the correct translation shall be:
Are all step-mothers (doing things) like this/that?


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## SuperXW

都 is the adverb which means "all".
都是...的 "all are..."
繼母都是這樣玩的嗎？"Are all the stepmothers 'play' in this way?" implying “Is this the norm or what?”


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## SimonTsai

philchinamusical said:


> In China mainland Mandarin, "都" means "both" or "all".


I think that 'always' is also possible:

繼母 (和誰成人漫畫) 都這樣玩嗎？
繼母 (不管甚麼時候) 都這樣玩嗎？


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## philchinamusical

@SimonTsai It's possible, since the words are written in traditional way so the manga is very likely drawn by a Hong Kong or Taiwan writer. It's just that in mainland, we'd use "总是" instead.


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## fyl

More context is needed. I don't think 都 has a single meaning. Given this single sentence, people are likely to only think of its basic meaning.


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## SuperXW

SimonTsai said:


> I think that 'always' is also possible:
> 繼母 (和誰成人漫畫) 都這樣玩嗎？
> 繼母 (不管甚麼時候) 都這樣玩嗎？


It is only possible when context like yours is provided.


philchinamusical said:


> @SimonTsai It's possible, since the words are written in traditional way so the manga is very likely drawn by a Hong Kong or Taiwan writer.


I don't think it is concern Hong Kongese as the sentence is clearly in colloquial Mandarin.
Taiwanese uses 都 in the same way with Mainlanders.


fyl said:


> More context is needed. I don't think 都 has a single meaning. Given this single sentence, people are likely to only think of its basic meaning.


I don't think any more context is needed. It is clear that 都 in the sentence means "all". And thanks to the picture, we can guess or imagine which kind of story happens between them.


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## fyl

It's not clear to me. In fact, I don't think it means "all". My interpretation is 都 is here simply to emphasize.
something like 继母原来是这样玩的吗？
another possibility would be 连继母都可以这样玩的吗？


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## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> It is only possible when context like yours is provided.


叫 Simon 的男孩說話都這麼沒禮貌嗎？------all
叫 Simon 的男孩說話都這麼沒禮貌嗎？------always

When 繼母 refers to a specific person, 'always' is more likely than not the meaning of 都.


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## Skatinginbc

At first glance I thought it was "继母, 都是这样玩的吗" (继母 is a topicalized object, from 都是这样玩继母的吗). 
Then I looked at the picture, and my interpretation changed to ""继母都(= 一直)是这样玩(= 玩弄風騷, 挑逗继子)的吗".
After reading the comments from other posters, I felt lost.  I don't know what the sentence is supposed to mean.


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## philchinamusical

Skatinginbc said:


> After reading the comments from other posters, I felt lost. I don't know what the sentence is supposed to mean.


Yeah, the more you know, the more you know you don't know...


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## Corbo

Skatinginbc said:


> At first glance I thought it was "继母, 都是这样玩的吗" (继母 is a topicalized object, from 都是这样玩继母的吗).



I really thought the same thing and that's why I got confused about that 都 thinking it was added just to put emphasis.
Now thanks to you guys it's much more clear, thank you.


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## SimonTsai

Skatinginbc said:


> 都是这样玩继母的吗？


I gasped with my eyes widening when I saw this. 

I do not think that this is the case, but if it was, I would have it tweaked so that it becomes '繼母－－都是這樣玩的嗎？'


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## Skatinginbc

SimonTsai said:


> I would have it tweaked so that it becomes '繼母－－都是這樣玩的嗎？'


Have you actually seen the image (#1)？ Doesn't it look just like that _at first glance_ (#10)？


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## SuperXW

SimonTsai said:


> 叫 Simon 的男孩說話都這麼沒禮貌嗎？------all
> 叫 Simon 的男孩說話都這麼沒禮貌嗎？------always
> 
> When 繼母 refers to a specific person, 'always' is more likely than not the meaning of 都.


繼母 is not a name like Simon, I don't think it is a specific person.
Still, the original sentence doesn't contain context like yours: 叫...的男孩, 說話(v.)...都這麼沒禮貌(adv.)

Other meanings require other contexts. However, the banner doesn't provide any more context but the picture. "All" is only natural explanation here.
It is an exclamatory sentence, that the speaker may not really believe "all stepmothers" would play like this, but by saying this, he expresses surprise and wonders "is this common" and "should I accept this".

If you guys can't even understand this, I don't know what to say...


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## retrogradedwithwind

黄色页游广告……

Here 都 means this step-mother and other step-mothers. The plural and single forms of nouns in the Chinese language are same, which means when 继母 is written down, it perhaps refers to a or two or more 继母. 

similarly:
教师都这么严谨吗？
你的同学都这么漂亮？

A new trend is that many people would add 们 after the noun.

你的同学们都这么漂亮吗？

Sounds odd to me at least.


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## SuperXW

Skatinginbc said:


> At first glance I thought it was "继母, 都是这样玩的吗" (继母 is a topicalized object, from 都是这样玩继母的吗).
> Then I looked at the picture, and my interpretation changed to ""继母都(= 一直)是这样玩(= 玩弄風騷, 挑逗继子)的吗".


The facial expressions of the two should be reversed then...


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## brofeelgood

Skatinginbc said:


> At first glance I thought it was "继母, 都是这样玩的吗" (继母 is a topicalized object, from 都是这样玩继母的吗).


你說呢? Toomics 玩漫 - 免費網路漫畫_看彩色線上最新漫畫_webtoon


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## Skatinginbc

SimonTsai said:


> I think that 'always' is also possible





SimonTsai said:


> When 繼母 refers to a specific person, 'always' is more likely than not the meaning of 都.


SimonTsai 描述的是事實: 台灣的口語中, "單數特指名詞" (特指性的名詞, as opposed to "泛指名詞") 之後的「都」常常是「一直」的意思.  For example, "爸爸都是這麼伺候你的嗎" 是說 "你爸爸(不是所有或任何人的爸爸)一直是這麼伺候你的嗎".


SuperXW said:


> The facial expressions of the two should be reversed then...


我對該圖的詮釋: 繼母含情脈脈, 繼子嚇得目瞪口僵.


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## Broccolee

Your sentence is very colloquial and informal. I highly doubt whether it's grammatically correct.
I indeed hear about this sentence. I hear this sentence from my peers when they play mobile games. They mean "how could this be?!" or "how could you guys..." People don't use it quite often except youngsters when they want to create a friendly atmosphere.


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