无论 … 都 in 83 Bible Clauses
Answering: “how to say no matter what in Chinese”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
无论 opens a clause with an open question word in it, and 都 or 也 closes it: whatever the answer, the result is the same.
- HSK level
- 4
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 83
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Exodus
- 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.
无论wú lùn做zuò什么shén me，都dōu要yào从cóng心里xīn li做zuò，像xiàng是shì给gěi主zhǔ做zuò的de，不是bú shì给gěi人rén做zuò的de，
And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
Colossians 3:23 · 89% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
所以suǒ yǐ，你们nǐ men或huò吃chī或huò喝hē，无论wú lùn做zuò什么shén me，都dōu要yào为wèi荣耀róng yào 神shén而ér行xíng。
Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 · 88% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
凡fán头tóu生shēng的de都dōu是shì我wǒ的de；一切yí qiè牲畜shēng chù头tóu生shēng的de，无论wú lùn是shì牛niú是shì羊yáng，公gōng的de都dōu是shì我wǒ的de。
“All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
Exodus 34:19 · 88% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
城中chéng zhōng有yǒu一yí座zuò坚固jiān gù的de楼lóu；城chéng里lǐ的de众人zhòng rén，无论wú lùn男女nán nǚ，都dōu逃táo进jìn楼lóu去qù，关上guān shàng门mén，上shàng了le楼顶lóu dǐng。
But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women of the city fled there, and shut themselves in, and went up to the roof of the tower.
Judges 9:51 · 83% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
我wǒ又yòu看见kàn jiàn死sǐ了le的de人rén，无论wú lùn大小dà xiǎo，都dōu站zhàn在zài宝座bǎo zuò前qián。案卷àn juàn展开zhǎn kāi了le，并且bìng qiě另有lìng yǒu一yí卷juàn展开zhǎn kāi，就是jiù shì生命shēng mìng册cè。死sǐ了le的de人rén都dōu凭着píng zhe这些zhè xiē案卷àn juàn所suǒ记载jì zǎi的de，照zhào他们tā men所suǒ行xíng的de受审shòu shěn判pàn。
I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Revelation 20:12 · 81% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
无论wú lùn大小dà xiǎo都dōu听从tīng cóng他tā，说shuō：「这zhè人rén就是jiù shì那nà称为chēng wéi 神shén的de大能dà néng者zhě。」
to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.”
Acts 8:10 · 80% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Colossians 3 — 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
无论 opens a clause containing an open question word — whoever, whatever, wherever — and 都 or 也 closes it: 无论大小,都生痔疮, both small and great, they broke out in sores. The pair is what makes it work, and the second half is easy to miss because the comma between them is doing nothing grammatical.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 无论 250 times. 167 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
It is a legal and liturgical pattern, so it clusters where the law codes and the census lists are. 无论是人是牲畜 — whether man or beast — appears verbatim several times in Exodus and Leviticus.
It is commonest in Exodus, with 8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 无论 | wú lùn | 4 | 250 |
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 | 83 | 33% |
| the same words doing something else | 167 | 67% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Exodus | 8 |
| 1 Samuel | 6 |
| Deuteronomy | 6 |
| 2 Chronicles | 5 |
| 2 Kings | 5 |
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 | 'everyone who, whatever', heading the clause |
| 不论 | bú lùn | 3 | 7 | the same frame with a different first word |
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: 无论, with 都 or 也 later in the same clause or in the next one.
30 of 83 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
- Does the second half have to be 都?
- 都 or 也. Both close the frame; 也 is commoner when the clause is negative, as in 无论谁也不能.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 83 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 250 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Exodus, with 8 — followed by 1 Samuel (6), Deuteronomy (6), 2 Chronicles (5).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 无论, with 都 or 也 later in the same clause or in the next one. 30 of its 83 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.