很 Appears Only 47 Times in the Bible
Answering: “how to say very in Chinese Bible”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
Modern Mandarin links a subject to a predicate adjective with 很, which carries little of its literal 'very'. The 和合本 rarely does this: it marks degree the classical way.
- HSK level
- 1
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 32
- clauses, approximately
- Meet it first in
- Acts
- where it is commonest
- How sure
- Approximate
- 80% of a checked sample
Practise it
Tap the words that carry the pattern.
：『』，，，
The same verses, in full
Easiest first: ranked by how much of each verse sits at or below HSK 1, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
他tā若ruò对duì你nǐ说shuō：『我wǒ不愿bú yuàn意yì离开lí kāi你nǐ』，是shì因yīn他tā爱ài你nǐ和hé你nǐ的de家jiā，且qiě因yīn在zài你nǐ那里nà li很hěn好hǎo，
It shall be, if he tells you, “I will not go out from you,” because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you,
Deuteronomy 15:16 · 73% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
逼迫bī pò我wǒ的de，抵挡dǐ dǎng我wǒ的de，很hěn多duō， 我wǒ却què没有méi yǒu偏离piān lí你nǐ的de法度fǎ dù。
Many are my persecutors and my adversaries. I haven’t swerved from your testimonies.
Psalms 119:157 · 67% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
那nà少年人shào nián rén听见tīng jiàn这zhè话huà，就jiù忧yōu忧愁yōu chóu愁chóu地de走zǒu了le，因为yīn wèi他tā的de产业chǎn yè很hěn多duō。
But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions.
Matthew 19:22 · 67% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
又yòu要yào对duì百姓bǎi xìng说shuō：『你们nǐ men应当yīng dāng自洁zì jié，预备yù bèi明天míng tiān吃chī肉ròu，因为yīn wèi你们nǐ men哭kū号hào说shuō：谁shuí给gěi我们wǒ men肉ròu吃chī！我们wǒ men在zài埃及āi jí很hěn好hǎo。这zhè声音shēng yīn达到dá dào了le耶和华yē hé huá的de耳ěr中zhōng，所以suǒ yǐ他tā必bì给gěi你们nǐ men肉ròu吃chī。
“Say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, and you will eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat.
Numbers 11:18 · 67% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
惟有wéi yǒu听见tīng jiàn不bú去qù行xíng的de，就jiù像xiàng一个人yí gè rén在zài土地tǔ dì上shàng盖房gài fáng子zi，没有méi yǒu根基gēn jī；水shuǐ一yì冲chōng，随即suí jí倒塌dǎo tā了le，并且bìng qiě那nà房子fáng zi坏huài的de很hěn大dà。」
But he who hears and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
Luke 6:49 · 66% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他tā听见tīng jiàn这zhè话huà，脸liǎn上shàng就jiù变biàn了le色sè，忧yōu忧愁yōu chóu愁chóu地de走zǒu了le，因为yīn wèi他tā的de产业chǎn yè很hěn多duō。
But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.
Mark 10:22 · 64% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Deuteronomy 15 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 1 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 1 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
In modern Mandarin an adjective cannot simply follow its subject: 他好 is incomplete, and 他很好 is the ordinary way to say he is well, with 很 carrying almost none of its literal sense of very. It is one of the first patterns any course teaches, and a reader arrives at the Chinese Bible expecting to see it everywhere.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 很 47 times. 15 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
They will not. This translation was made in 1919 in a literary register, and it marks degree the classical way — 甚大, exceedingly great; 大大欢喜, greatly rejoiced; 极宝贵的, most precious. The table below counts the candidates and shows a real verse for each, because a claim about what a translator preferred is worth nothing without the verse it came from.
It is commonest in Acts, with 6 of them, and 34% of all of them fall in the Old Testament — which is mostly a statement about length, since the Old Testament is the longer part of the book.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|
| 很 | hěn | 1 | 47 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 1.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 32 | 68% |
| the same words doing something else | 15 | 32% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Acts | 6 |
| Mark | 6 |
| Luke | 5 |
| Ezekiel | 3 |
| Matthew | 3 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 甚 | shèn | not graded | 268 | the classical degree adverb, before a stative verb |
| 更 | gèng | 2 | 238 | comparative degree, 'still more' |
| 极 | jí | 4 | 144 | 'extremely', usually before a modifier plus 的 |
| 大大 | dà dà | 2 | 120 | a reduplicated adverb of degree before a verb |
| 最 | zuì | 1 | 78 | superlative degree |
| 甚是 | shèn shì | not graded | 46 | two-syllable 甚, before a stative verb |
The candidates are chosen by hand; the counts are measured, and a candidate the corpus cannot illustrate with a real verse is left out. No claim is made that they are interchangeable.
Approximate
The rule: 很 immediately before a word whose dictionary entry offers no verb sense — a predicate adjective rather than 很 + verb.
30 of 32 matches were drawn at random and read in context; 80% were right. Checked by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker. Recall is not measured: this is what the rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
This point is HSK 1 because that is the highest HSK level of the point's own function words, as data/dict.json grades them; a word the HSK lists do not grade sends the point to 'beyond'.
Questions
- So should I stop learning 很?
- No — it is indispensable in spoken Chinese and in anything written after about 1950. The point is narrower and more useful: a reader who learns grammar from this translation will not meet it, and a reader who learns it from a textbook will not recognise what the Bible uses in its place.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- about 32 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 47 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Acts, with 6 — followed by Mark (6), Luke (5), Ezekiel (3).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 很 immediately before a word whose dictionary entry offers no verb sense — a predicate adjective rather than 很 + verb. 30 of its 32 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 80% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
Related reference pages
Take it further
- 97 ready-made vocabulary decks — by HSK level, by book or by topic, exportable to Anki, Pleco or Quizlet.
- Printable 田字格 worksheets — passages with pinyin, meanings and tracing rows.
- The parallel reader — Chinese, pinyin and your own language side by side, every word tappable.
- The dataset behind these numbers — plain JSON, free to reuse with attribution.
How this was measured
Edition: Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified). Every figure comes from one pass over all 1,189 chapters and 31,021 verses, 650,628word tokens in total, using the site’s own segmentation. A construction count is published only when a hand-checked sample of the rule that found it was at least 90% correct; between 70% and that it is published as an approximation, and below it no count is published at all. Generated 2026-09-26.