Why does "每天我都得吃药 Měitiān wǒ dū dé chī yào" include "dū"?

Question

From my understanding 每天我都得吃药 (Měitiān wǒ dū dé chī yào)

都 = All, both, entirely etc.

So my understanding of the English translation would be "Everyday I have to take medicine"

Also I know "得" in this case may mean "must" like dĕi. But I don't see how "都" fits in.

Answer 1

每天我都得吃药。
Měitiān wǒ dōu děi chī yào
Every day I must take medicine.

Firstly, let's straighten out the pinyin: it's not 都 (dū), which is used in 首都 = "capital" and 成都 = "Chengdu" (a city name), but 都 (dōu) = "all". It's not 得 (dé) = "to obtain", it's 得 (děi) = "must" (as you point out).

每天我都……
Měitiān wǒ dōu...
Every day I...

The 都 here applies to 每天, and basically implies there are no days in which it is not true. I feel like it's somewhat more common to encounter the word order:

我每天都……
Wǒ měitiān dōu...
Every day I...

---

I guess the errors come from Google Translate; the pinyin for 都 and 得 here is just plain wrong.

Answer 2

都 in here means "whole/entirely". It implies the event has repeated regularly over a stretch of time/days, which can be seen as a period and as a whole. So "每天都" means "each of these days" rather than simply "every day".

The correct pronunciation of "都得" is "dōu děi".

Answer 3

In this sentence, 都 pronounces dōu and you can't remove it.

Here are a few other similar sentences:

1. 每天我都要吃药
2. 每天我都会吃药

The two above sentences are similar, but they don't contain 得, so the person who speaks them is not unhappy about taking medicine, compared to the one in your question.

3. 那段时间，他每天都会给我打电话 He used to call me every day during that period.

You can't remove 都 because it means you have to do this daily, and there is no exception. However, if there are a few exceptions, you may want to say:

• 我几乎每天都得吃药

I have to take medicine every day, but with a few exceptions (not particularly specified)

• 我每天都得吃药，除非哪天我的胃特别不舒服

I have to take medicine every day unless that day my stomach feels very uncomfortable.