"我的朋友都喜欢跳舞。"
Translation:All of my friends like dancing.
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Hey thanks for your reply, but I'm not suggesting to remove 都.
I'm suggesting that 我的朋友都喜欢跳舞 has two meanings because there isn't enough context. It doesn't say how many friends. So it could mean two friends (both) or many friends (all). 我的朋友都喜欢跳舞 can mean:
Also, both 1 and 2 have two variations if you change the word order.
- My friends both like dancing // Both my friends like dancing.
- My friends all like dancing // All my friends like dancing.
I think the most literal translation would be "My friends all like dancing." That doesn't mean it's the only translation, nor is it the most accurate. However, when I hear 都 without a number of people, I assume it automatically just means "all." "Both" isn't wrong, but I'd still say "all" as it just makes more sense.
Also, the word order SHOULDN'T matter, but I got the answer wrong because of it.
986
This is probably understood as "all" more often because you'd use 俩 instead, which exclusively means "both."
"My friends all like to dance" seems like it could be an accurate translation depending on the context, however there is no helper verb that indicates the friends actually like doing the action. For example they could like watching people dance, but not like doing it themselves.
In the English translation above "to" adds this additional meaning to "dance".
Now I'm not arguing about the validity of the translation, but is there a Chinese equivalent, or does the verb 喜欢 imply the doing themselves?