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From this Mandarin Corner video: https://youtu.be/2JttZXFJrNg?t=28

(Transcript provided on their website:)

00:00:24,000 –> 00:00:28,000

Dàjiē shàng hěnduō shù bèi guā dǎo le,

大街上很多树被刮倒了，

00:00:28,000 –> 00:00:31,700

wàimian de lajī yě bèi chuī de dàochù dōu shì,

外面的垃圾也被吹得到处都是，

00:00:31,700 –> 00:00:34,166

gēnběn méi bànfǎ chūmén,

根本没办法出门，

I don't understand why "everywhere" can't be expressed as just 到处 there. If I Google examples it looks like 到处都是 is an entire fixed phrase that means "everywhere", but if I look up 到处, 到处都, and 到处都是 they are defined as "everywhere".

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5

到处是 can be used interchangeably as 到处都是 and they means something exist everywere.

For example, 菜园里到处都是蘑菇 means mushrooms are everywhere in the garden.

Sometimes, 都 gives significance to the sentence, it emphasis that this specific place is unique as it has a specific object everywhere.

For example, 海里到处是水! means Ocean has water(which is a fact about ocean) whereas if you say: 家里到处都是水 meaning there is water everywhere at home. You see that it is uncommon.

是means to be. So if you wish to use another verb with everywhere, you should remove 是 and replace it with a verb that you want to use。

Example: 到处跳舞： Dance Everywhere. 到处逛： Wandering Everywhere。

Hope That help.

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3
  • I see, my mistake is thinking of "everywhere" as the location where blowing was happening, but it's a result complement meaning that the result of blowing was "garbage being everywhere".
    – Ben Jackson
    Nov 18 '18 at 0:49
  • @Ben Exactly. 得 indicates a complement of degree, so a fairly verbatim translation would be “the trash outside had also been blown off to the point that it was everywhere”. The 是 is the existential 是 that means ‘there is’: 桌子上是书 = [what’s] on the table is a book; 桌子上都/全是书 = [what’s] on the table’s everywhereness is books = there are books all over the table. So 到处是垃圾 = [what’s] in every place is trash, and 到处都是垃圾 = [what’s] on every place’s everywhereness is trash = there’s trash all over the place. Leaving out the subject, you get 到处都是 = [it] is all over the place.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Nov 18 '18 at 4:12
  • 到处是 used at the end of a sentence or alone sounds not very natural to me, I would just use 到处都是. But for other usage they are interchangeable.
    – 炸鱼薯条德里克
    Nov 18 '18 at 8:38

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