又 and 再 Mark Repetition 2,482 Times
Answering: “difference between you and zai”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
又 repeats something that already happened; 再 repeats something still to come. The 和合本 leans heavily on 又 as a narrative connector.
- HSK level
- 2
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 2,482
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Genesis
- 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 2, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
又yòu说shuō：「我wǒ有yǒu话huà对duì你nǐ说shuō。」拔示巴bá shì bā说shuō：「你nǐ说shuō吧ba。」
He said moreover, I have something to tell you.” She said, “Say on.”
1 Kings 2:14 · 92% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
又yòu说shuō：「我wǒ拿ná什么shén me来lái比bǐ 神shén的de国guó呢ne？
Again he said, “To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom?
Luke 13:20 · 91% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
当dāng人rén在世zài shì上shàng多duō起来qǐ lái、又yòu生shēng女儿nǚ ér的de时候shí hou，
When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,
Genesis 6:1 · 91% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他tā就jiù离开lí kāi他们tā men，又yòu上船shàng chuán往wǎng海hǎi那边nà bian去qù了le。
He left them, and again entering into the boat, departed to the other side.
Mark 8:13 · 91% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
你们nǐ men就jiù重zhòng看kàn那nà穿chuān华美huá měi衣服yī fu的de人rén，说shuō：「请坐qǐng zuò在zài这zhè好hǎo位wèi上shàng」；又yòu对duì那nà穷人qióng rén说shuō：「你nǐ站zhàn在zài那里nà li」，或huò「坐zuò在zài我wǒ脚凳jiǎo dèng下边xià bian。」
and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”
James 2:3 · 91% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
角jiǎo声shēng与yǔ说话shuō huà的de声音shēng yīn。那些nà xiē听见tīng jiàn这zhè声音shēng yīn的de，都dōu求qiú不要bú yào再zài向xiàng他们tā men说话shuō huà；
the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them,
Hebrews 12:19 · 89% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read 1 Kings 2 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 2 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 2 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
English has one again. Chinese has two and the split is by time: 又 repeats something that already happened, 再 repeats something that has not happened yet. 他又说 is he said again; 不要再叫雅各 is do not be called Jacob any more.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 又 2,819 times, 再 302 times. 639 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
又 is far the commoner of the two here, because most of this book is narrative looking backwards. It also chains: 又大又美, both great and good, where the repetition is of the description rather than the action.
It is commonest in Genesis, with 188 of them, and 71% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 又 | yòu | 2 | 2,819 |
| 再 | zài | 1 | 302 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 2.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 2,482 | 80% |
| the same words doing something else | 639 | 20% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Genesis | 188 |
| Luke | 131 |
| 2 Chronicles | 128 |
| Ezekiel | 116 |
| Exodus | 108 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
Counted
The rule: 又 or 再 immediately before a word with a verb sense.
30 of 2,482 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 2 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
- Which one goes with a negative?
- 再, in the pattern 不再 — not any more. 又 with a negative says something failed to happen a second time, which is a different claim.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 2,482 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 3,121 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Genesis, with 188 — followed by Luke (131), 2 Chronicles (128), Ezekiel (116).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 又 or 再 immediately before a word with a verb sense. 30 of its 2,482 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.