所 … 的 Builds 3,566 Bible Relative Clauses
Answering: “what does suo mean before a verb”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
所 before a verb turns the action into the thing it is done to — 所吩咐的, 'what was commanded'. The agent may stand in front of 所. It is formal in modern Chinese and ordinary in this corpus.
- HSK level
- 3
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 3,566
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Deuteronomy
- 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 3, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
这zhè一切yí qiè不bù都dōu是shì我wǒ手shǒu所suǒ造zào的de吗ma？
Didn’t my hand make all these things?’
Acts 7:50 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
你们nǐ men并bìng没有méi yǒu他tā的de道dào存在cún zài心里xīn li；因为yīn wèi他tā所suǒ差chāi来lái的de，你们nǐ men不bú信xìn。
You don’t have his word living in you, because you don’t believe him whom he sent.
John 5:38 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他们tā men说shuō：「我们wǒ men能néng。」耶稣yē sū说shuō：「我wǒ所suǒ喝hē的de杯bēi，你们nǐ men也yě要yào喝hē；我wǒ所suǒ受shòu的de洗xǐ，你们nǐ men也yě要yào受shòu；
They said to him, “We are able.” Jesus said to them, “You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with;
Mark 10:39 · 96% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
但dàn你nǐ所suǒ学习xué xí的de，所suǒ确信què xìn的de，要yào存在cún zài心里xīn li；因为yīn wèi你nǐ知道zhī dào是shì跟gēn谁shuí学xué的de，
But you remain in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.
2 Timothy 3:14 · 95% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
所以suǒ yǐ你nǐ要yào把bǎ所suǒ看见kàn jiàn的de，和hé现在xiàn zài的de事shì，并bìng将来jiāng lái必bì成chéng的de事shì，都dōu写xiě出来chū lái。
Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter.
Revelation 1:19 · 95% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
论lùn到dào你们nǐ men信xìn上shàng所suǒ提tí的de事shì，我wǒ说shuō男nán不bú近jìn女nǚ倒dào好hǎo。
Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
1 Corinthians 7:1 · 94% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Acts 7 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 3 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 3 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
所 goes in front of a verb and 的 closes the phrase, and what comes out is the object of that verb treated as a noun: 所说的, what was said; 所行的, what was done; 所赐给你们的美地, the good land which he gives you. Modern Chinese treats this as formal. This translation treats it as ordinary, and it is one of the highest-value patterns a reader can learn here.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 所 4,709 times. 1,143 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
It is also how the Chinese Bible builds a relative clause with a passive sense without using 被 at all. 耶和华所吩咐的 is what the LORD commanded and what was commanded by the LORD at the same time; the frame leaves it open.
It is commonest in Deuteronomy, with 296 of them, and 76% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 所 | suǒ | 3 | 4,709 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 3.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 3,566 | 76% |
| the same words doing something else | 1,143 | 24% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Deuteronomy | 296 |
| Jeremiah | 207 |
| Psalms | 179 |
| Ezekiel | 168 |
| Isaiah | 156 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
Counted
The rule: 所, then a word with a verb sense, then 的 within five words of 所.
30 of 3,566 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 3 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 所 appear without 的?
- It does in set phrases and in the classical 为…所… passive, but the everyday frame in this translation closes with 的, and that is what this count requires.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 3,566 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 4,709 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Deuteronomy, with 296 — followed by Jeremiah (207), Psalms (179), Ezekiel (168).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 所, then a word with a verb sense, then 的 within five words of 所. 30 of its 3,566 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.