What does "你什么都不是" mean?

Question

Literal translation:

你 - You
什么 - what / who / something / anything
都 - entire / all
不是 - blame

My guess - It's all your fault?

Your main misconception here is that 不是 means ‘blame’. It does not. 不 means ‘not’ and 是 means ‘to be’. In other words, [you] [anything] [entirely/at all] [not] [are] is a verbatim translation that should make it clear how this means ‘You are nothing at all’. — Janus Bahs Jacquet, Dec 08 '13 at 14:49

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 07 '13 at 00:04

8

Literally: you are nothing at all, usually used in a disparaging way from what I can gather. It follows the common pattern of Sub+什么都不+Verb, meaning that the subject verbs nothing at all. Ex: 我什么都不知道 = I don't know anything.

answered Dec 07 '13 at 00:04

user238264

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score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 09 '13 at 11:17

4

Simple translate: You are nothing.

answered Dec 09 '13 at 11:17

Allen St.Clair

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Actually, I learn this word from World of Warcraft. While the 4th boss (Deathbringer Saurfang) of Icecrown Citadel (ICC), he will say "You are nothing" to a player who been killed. And if you are played a Chinese version, you will see a text "你什么都不是" while hearing such a sad voice. hah – Allen St.Clair Feb 21 '14 at 06:23

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 09 '13 at 01:02

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you are a nobody .我是中国人我知道答案。告诉你们了

edited Dec 09 '13 at 01:02

deutschZuid

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answered Dec 08 '13 at 09:00

ruan

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Can you expand on that and give a more semantic explanation? – deutschZuid Dec 09 '13 at 01:01
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@deutschZuid Allow me to explain. IMHO, You are a nobody. is a better translation than You are nothing. Person is implied in 什么. I agree that the OP of this answer is somewhat impolite. He probably deserves the downvote. But, his answer is the most correct one here.(I am also a Chinese.) – Nobody Dec 09 '13 at 11:53
"You are nobody" would be more idiomatic in English. 'A nobody' sounds very strange to my ears. Anyway, I was trying to encourage the guy to expand on his answer. I am fully aware what he meant. – deutschZuid Dec 09 '13 at 20:16

user3686 · Answer 4 · 2013-12-19T09:14:59.837

你什么都不是actually means"you are nothing,what right do you have to do this?",it's usually used when you quarrel with someone you despise because he/she is snooty or stupid,it's sort of rude,a more common expression is 你算什么东西 or 你他妈算什么东西,i suggest that you'd better not say 你什么都不是，你算什么东西 or 你他妈算什么东西 unless you wanna give someone a lesson,because they are expressions in a rude way,but if you hear someone says that to you，it implies he/she is not friendly to you.Sometimes you may hear someone say "你什么都不是" to himself,it probably means he blames himself because he does something stupid.

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 31 '13 at 15:08

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你什么都不是。 You are not anything at all.

你 you

什么 what (using the extending meaning "anything" here)

都 at all

不是 not, an auxiliary word means negative

answered Dec 31 '13 at 15:08

Victor

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 07 '13 at 16:14

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it's mean “You are a waste” but it is more tactfully。Don't be serious occasion to say this sentence, it is considered an insult or hurt. For example: meeting, break up ------------------------------You would think that this would be that, but it's true. In addition, I talk with Baidu Chinese translation (search engine a Chinese common) translated into English in released, may be because of social philosophy and misunderstanding, please forgive me

answered Dec 07 '13 at 16:14

user3074575

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Online translation engines do not translate text very well. This answer is almost completely unintelligible. And “You are a waste” is a different sentiment from 你什么都不是. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Dec 08 '13 at 14:48

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 20 '13 at 09:09

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means: you suck!you are nothing!

answered Dec 20 '13 at 09:09

大崔同学

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What does "你什么都不是" mean?

7 Answers7