All about "all"

[Altair]

I think I am confused about what "all" actually means in English and so am really struggling with all of the Chinese equivalents.

都，全，全部，所有，俱，一切

If no one has a handy way to distinguish the above choices，could someone please explain which one(s) of the above could be used to translate the following sentences?

For example, in the following case, could 全部 be replaced with any or all of the above expressions without a significant change in meaning?

案犯全部抓获。

The criminals in the case have all been captured.

How about the following?:

承担一切费用

bear all the costs

把所有的书都拢在一块。

Gather all the books together.

罪证俱在。

All the evidence of the crime is available.

客人都进来了。

All the guests came in.

In looking at the above, I would wonder whether:

都 translates "all" only with pronouns and otherwise only clarifies that the predicate applies to all references of the sentence topic (句子主题) individually and not just collectively.

一切 only applies to things that are not seen as a collection of individual units.

俱 only works in phrases using classical grammar and style.

全部 is a two syllable equivalent of 全 that works as an adjective to apply to things made up of individual units.

I can't seem to figure out what 所有 means.

[renzhe]

I can't seem to figure out what 所有 means.

所有的 roughly means "that which is present", "the available", "that which is there". In modern language, it's usually a 所...的 construction, but 所 was used a lot more often in classical Chinese. Think of it as turning the verb 有 "to be present" into "the present (books)".

The "all" meaning is given by 都 which appears later in the phrase. It's about gathering all the books that were there.

一切 to me carries the connotation of completeness. Like "all the costs are paid", or "everything I do, I do it for you".

I'm not familiar with 俱 in this context, but I'd tend to agree. Most of the examples of it meaning "all" appear to be fixed phrases or chengyu.

[Altair]

所有的 roughly means "that which is present", "the available", "that which is there". In modern language, it's usually a 所...的 construction, but 所 was used a lot more often in classical Chinese. Think of it as turning the verb 有 "to be present" into "the present (books)".

所有的客人都进来了 Whatever guests were there came in? All the guests came in?

客人全部都进来了 (*)The entirety of the guests came in?

客人都进来了 The guests all came in.

客人的人群一切都进来了 The whole crowd of guests came in?

Do you think all of the above are acceptable and mean more or less the same thing?

[zhouhaochen]

very interesting. I only use 全，所有and都.

And which one I use completely depends on whether it feels right or not. But there must be some rules.

Will ask my Chinese teacher....

[xiaocai]

所有的客人都进来了 Whatever guests were there came in? All the guests came in?

客人全部都进来了 (*)The entirety of the guests came in?

客人都进来了 The guests all came in.

客人的人群一切都进来了 The whole crowd of guests came in?

Only the last sounds strange to me. 客人都进来了 could cause some ambiguity when used along but should be much clearer if with context.

[LiScing]

There are even more than that. Three more that are popular:

每

完全

各

For globally,

全球

全球性

[renzhe]

每 and 各 mean "each", not "all".

完全 is more like "completely".

[LiScing]

通通 is another popular one.

[Altair]

Thank you all so much for your answers.

客人都进来了 could cause some ambiguity when used along but should be much clearer if with context.

Could someone be so kind as to give some examples of the ambiguity? I would very much like to have a better understanding of what exactly 都 means.