若 Opens 1,344 Conditionals in the Bible
Answering: “how to say if in the Chinese Bible”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
若 opens a condition. HSK teaches 如果 for this, and the 和合本 hardly uses it: the conditional of this corpus is 若.
- HSK level
- 6
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 1,344
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Leviticus
- 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 6, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
这样zhè yàng，信心xìn xīn若ruò没有méi yǒu行为xíng wéi就是jiù shì死sǐ的de。
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
James 2:17 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
我wǒ若ruò问wèn你们nǐ men，你们nǐ men也yě不bù回答huí dá。
and if I ask, you will in no way answer me or let me go.
Luke 22:68 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
「你们nǐ men若ruò爱ài我wǒ，就jiù必bì遵守zūn shǒu我wǒ的de命令mìng lìng。
If you love me, keep my commandments.
John 14:15 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
若ruò我wǒ也yě该gāi去qù，他们tā men可以kě yǐ和hé我wǒ同tóng去qù。
If it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me.
1 Corinthians 16:4 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他们tā men若ruò想念xiǎng niàn所suǒ离开lí kāi的de家乡jiā xiāng，还有hái yǒu可以kě yǐ回去huí qu的de机会jī huì。
If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return.
Hebrews 11:15 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
「眼睛yǎn jing就是jiù shì身上shēn shang的de灯dēng。你nǐ的de眼睛yǎn jing若ruò了le亮liàng，全身quán shēn就jiù光明guāng míng；
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.
Matthew 6:22 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read James 2 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 6 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 6 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
若 is if. 人若死了, if a man die; 我们若说自己无罪, if we say that we have no sin. It usually stands after the subject rather than in front of it, which is the first thing to get used to, and the result clause often picks up with 就 or 便.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 若 1,345 times. 1 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
This is the widest gap between the textbook and the text on the whole site. 如果 is taught early and occurs a handful of times in the entire Bible; 若 is not taught until HSK 6 and carries essentially every conditional in it. The alternatives table puts the two counts side by side.
It is commonest in Leviticus, with 153 of them, and 65% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 若 | ruò | 6 | 1,345 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 6.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 1,344 | 100% |
| the same words doing something else | 1 | 0% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Leviticus | 153 |
| Deuteronomy | 78 |
| 1 Corinthians | 76 |
| John | 75 |
| Exodus | 72 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 凡 | fán | 7 | 767 | 'whoever', a conditional by generalisation |
| 倘若 | tǎng ruò | 7 | 68 | a heavier literary 'if' |
| 如果 | rú guǒ | 2 | 13 | the modern conditional taught at HSK 2 |
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: 若 with another word after it in the same clause — the condition it opens.
30 of 1,344 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 6 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
- Is 若 still used in modern Chinese?
- In writing, yes — 若有 is unremarkable in a formal document. In speech it has been almost entirely replaced by 如果 and 要是, which is why a course teaches those first.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 1,344 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 1,345 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Leviticus, with 153 — followed by Deuteronomy (78), 1 Corinthians (76), John (75).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 若 with another word after it in the same clause — the condition it opens. 30 of its 1,344 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.