How to use 一律
Scope / group + 一律 + (都) + predicate
一律 says that the same rule or treatment applies across the stated group without exceptions. It commonly appears in instructions, regulations, and administrative decisions. The focus is uniformity: all relevant items are handled in the same way, rather than merely sharing a quality by coincidence. The group can consist of people, objects, applications, or another clearly defined set.
Place 一律 before the predicate, sometimes followed by 都 for emphasis. The scope may appear in the subject, a topic phrase, or an earlier condition. Make that scope explicit enough for the reader to know who or what is included. Its firm tone suits clear rules, but it does not make an ambiguous or overbroad policy precise by itself.
Examples with pinyin and English
报名费一律不退。
Registration fees are nonrefundable in every case.
一律 applies the same treatment across the stated category.
明天的培训，员工一律要参加。
All employees must attend tomorrow's training.
The group covered by the requirement is explicit.
这些旧文件一律放进蓝色箱子。
Put all these old documents in the blue box.
The instruction specifies uniform handling of the documents.
What to remember
- Define the group covered by the rule.
- Put 一律 before the uniform action or treatment.
- Use optional 都 to strengthen the inclusive emphasis.
Practise the pattern
Use one example as a model. Change the people, objects or situation, keeping the grammar pattern in the same order. Read the explanation again to check how your sentence uses the construction.
Look up the grammar words
Source and editorial notes
Explanation and examples written for Laowai using the grammar curriculum as a topic reference. The original curriculum credits AllSet Learning’s Chinese Grammar Wiki as used with permission. Read the retained source credits.
Difficulty labels describe the level of the explanation; they are not official HSK placement. Send a correction with this page’s URL.