动词 + 遍 + 地方
all over; throughout (a place)
Structure
主语 动词(唱、传、红、走、找) 遍(了) 地方(大街小巷、全国、东南亚)
What it means
As a complement, 遍 (biàn) means “all over”: the verb says how something spread or moved, and the place after 遍 is covered completely.
How it is built
Verb + 遍 (+ 了) + place: 两首插曲很快唱遍了大街小巷 (the two songs were soon sung in every street and alley). Common verbs: 唱, 传, 红, 走, 跑, 找, 吃.
When to use it
Neutral register; 红遍 and 传遍 are favourites of music and film journalism. The place is large or plural (全国, 世界各地, 所有的…), so no 都 is needed.
Watch out
了 goes after 遍: ✗ 唱了遍 ✓ 唱遍了. Don’t mix it up with the measure word 遍 “times, once through” (翻录了好几遍, 一遍遍), which counts actions.
Examples
片中的两首插曲很快唱遍了大街小巷。
The film’s two songs were soon being sung in every street and alley.
她的磁带一遍遍翻录,很快传遍了大半个中国。
Copied over and over, her tapes soon spread across most of China.
为了找这张老唱片,他几乎跑遍了城里所有的旧货市场。
To find this old record he went round almost every flea market in the city.
Learn this in Lesson 243 · HSK 9+: 从周璇到邓丽君 (From Zhou Xuan to Teresa Teng)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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