却 Marks the Contrast in 577 Clauses
Answering: “how to say but in the Chinese Bible”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
却 marks the contrast from inside the second clause, standing before the verb rather than at the head of the sentence. Where a textbook writes 但是, this corpus writes 却.
- HSK level
- 4
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 577
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Psalms
- where it is commonest
- How sure
- Counted
- 100% 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 4, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
他tā却què回答huí dá说shuō：『我wǒ实在shí zài告诉gào sù你们nǐ men，我wǒ不bú认识rèn shi你们nǐ men。』
But he answered, ‘Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
Matthew 25:12 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
这样zhè yàng看来kàn lái，死sǐ是shì在zài我们wǒ men身上shēn shang发动fā dòng，生shēng却què在zài你们nǐ men身上shēn shang发动fā dòng。
So then death works in us, but life in you.
2 Corinthians 4:12 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
我wǒ却què认识rèn shi他tā；因为yīn wèi我wǒ是shì从cóng他tā来lái的de，他tā也yě是shì差chāi了le我wǒ来lái。」
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
John 7:29 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
把bǎ饭fàn摆bǎi在zài他tā面前miàn qián，叫jiào他tā吃chī，他tā却què说shuō：「我wǒ不bù吃chī，等děng我wǒ说明shuō míng白bái我wǒ的de事情shì qing再zài吃chī。」拉lā班bān说shuō：「请qǐng说shuō。」
Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my message.” Laban said, “Speak on.”
Genesis 24:33 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
彼得bǐ dé却què拉lā他tā，说shuō：「你nǐ起来qǐ lái，我wǒ也yě是shì人rén。」
But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.”
Acts 10:26 · 91% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
马利亚mǎ lì yà却què把bǎ这zhè一切yí qiè的de事shì存在cún zài心里xīn li，反复fǎn fù思想sī xiǎng。
But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.
Luke 2:19 · 91% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Matthew 25 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 4 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 4 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
English puts but at the front of the clause. Chinese can do that too, but it can also mark the contrast from inside, in the adverb slot before the verb: 大卫却倚靠耶和华, but David relied on the LORD. Nothing at the head of the clause warns you it is coming.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 却 1,052 times. 475 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
This is the HSK 4 word that quietly replaces the HSK 2 one. A textbook teaches 但是 first; this translation uses 却 many times more often, and a reader watching for a clause-initial conjunction will miss the contrast entirely.
It is commonest in Psalms, with 44 of them, and 75% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 却 | què | 4 | 1,052 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 4.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 577 | 55% |
| the same words doing something else | 475 | 45% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Psalms | 44 |
| Isaiah | 39 |
| Jeremiah | 34 |
| Proverbs | 31 |
| Ezekiel | 26 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 然而 | rán ér | 4 | 162 | clause-initial 'however' |
| 虽 | suī | 6 | 132 | classical 'although', opening the concessive clause |
| 但是 | dàn shì | 2 | 13 | the modern clause-initial contrast |
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.
Counted
The rule: 却 immediately before a word with a verb sense — the contrast marked from inside the clause.
30 of 577 matches were drawn at random and read in context; 100% 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 4 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
- Can 却 and 但是 appear in the same sentence?
- Yes, and it is not redundant: 但是 opens the clause and 却 marks the verb, which together make the contrast heavier. The Psalms do this repeatedly.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 577 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 1,052 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Psalms, with 44 — followed by Isaiah (39), Jeremiah (34), Proverbs (31).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 却 immediately before a word with a verb sense — the contrast marked from inside the clause. 30 of its 577 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 100% 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.