大多

dà duō adv.

mostly; for the most part; in most cases

mostly; for the most part; in most cases

Mostly, for the most part, or majority (大 big + 多 many); describes a predominant share or common trend among people or items.

Common Usage & Traps

  • 大多是 (dà duō shì) — are mostly / are for the most part
  • 大多不是 (dà duō bú shì) — are mostly not / most of them aren't
  • 大多来自 (dà duō lái zì) — mostly come from
  • 大多住在 (dà duō zhù zài) — mostly live in
  • 大多的人 大多数人

    English lets 'most' attach straight to a noun, so learners bolt 的 onto 大多 and expect it to work. 大多 is a group word that describes how a crowd acts, so it can't label a noun. Reach for 大多数 or 大部分 when you want 'most + noun'.

  • 大多去那儿的人不是老北京 去那儿的人大多不是老北京

    Learners drag 大多 to the front because English says 'most of the people who go there'. In Chinese the subject comes first, then 大多, then the verb or 是.

Can you say 大多的人 in Chinese, or does it have to be 大多数人?

大多的人 is broken — 大多 can't sit in front of a noun.

大多 never glues onto a noun. It's a crowd word that tells you how a whole group behaves, so it lands after the subject and before the verb or 是. Want the English-style label 'most people'? Use 大多数: 大多数人, 大多数学生, 大多数时候. Compare 我们公司的人大多是本地人, which sounds like a real coworker talking, with 大多的人都是本地人, which smells of Google Translate. Same deal in group chats: 我们群里的人大多在加班 beats 大多的人都在加班 every time. If you're stuck mid-sentence and need a noun descriptive word, 大多数 and 大部分 both happily take 的.

“可现在的茶馆虽然还是可以喝茶,但是去那儿的人大多不是老北京。” (But although you can still drink tea in today's teahouses, most people who go there aren't old-time Beijingers.)
DimensionNaturalAvoid
'Most' + noun大多数人喜欢喝茶大多的人喜欢喝茶
Where it sits in a sentence去那儿的人大多不是老北京大多去那儿的人不是老北京
Group chat test我们组的人大多住得挺远我们组大多的人住得挺远

Does 大多 just mean the same thing as 很多?

大多 measures most of a named group; 很多 just means a big number.

很多 counts heads without any group in mind: 这儿有很多外国人 could be ten people out of sixty. 大多 slices a group you already named and says the majority of it: 这儿的学生大多是外国人 sounds more like fifty-five out of sixty. That's why 大多 always needs something after it, while 很多 can stand alone as the whole comment. You can say 去那儿的人很多 and stop; 去那儿的人大多 and stop is a dangling sentence. Keep the difference in mind for complaints too: 我们群里很多人请假 means a bunch of people bailed, 我们群里的人大多请假 means nearly everybody did. One person alone can never be 大多 — you need a crowd to slice.
DimensionNaturalAvoid
What it countsA slice of a group you already namedA big raw number, group unknown
Everyday example这儿的学生大多是外国人这儿有很多外国人
Ending a sentence这儿的人很多这儿的人大多 (sentence just stops)

Featured in Story Deep Dive

Follow how this word unfolds across the narrative arc of this graded story.

《这还是茶馆儿吗?》 (Teahouse or Cinema?) HSK 3
~3 min read 325 chars
Read story →

Ever wondered where old Beijing's tea-drinking culture has gone? Follow a visitor discovering why locals now avoid famous tea houses—and practice expressing surprise and comparisons in Chinese along the way.

  • Scene #1

    可现在的茶馆虽然还是可以喝茶,但是去那儿的人 大多 不是老北京。

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