于是 Opens 667 Clauses in the Bible
Answering: “how to say and then in Chinese narrative”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
于是 opens the clause and joins it to what came before as its consequence. It is the narrative hinge of the historical books.
- HSK level
- 4
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 667
- 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 4, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
于是yú shì他们tā men都dōu放下fàng xià心xīn，也yě就jiù吃chī了le。
Then they all cheered up, and they also took food.
Acts 27:36 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
于是yú shì他们tā men说shuō：「你nǐ到底dào dǐ是shì谁shuí，叫jiào我们wǒ men好hǎo回复huí fù差chāi我们wǒ men来lái的de人rén。你nǐ自己zì jǐ说shuō，你nǐ是shì谁shuí？」
They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
John 1:22 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
于是yú shì到dào他们tā men那里nà li，上shàng了le船chuán，风fēng就jiù住zhù了le；他们tā men心里xīn li十分shí fēn惊奇jīng qí。
He got into the boat with them; and the wind ceased, and they were very amazed among themselves, and marveled;
Mark 6:51 · 93% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
于是yú shì回答huí dá说shuō：「不知bù zhī道dào是shì从cóng哪里nǎ lǐ来lái的de。」
They answered that they didn’t know where it was from.
Luke 20:7 · 90% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
于是yú shì耶和华yē hé huá使shǐ他们tā men从cóng那里nà li分散fēn sàn在zài全quán地上dì shang；他们tā men就jiù停工tíng gōng，不bú造zào那nà城chéng了le。
So the LORD scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.
Genesis 11:8 · 89% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
于是yú shì你们nǐ men在zài加低斯jiā dī sī住zhù了le许多xǔ duō日子rì zi。」
So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained.
Deuteronomy 1:46 · 88% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Acts 27 — 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
于是 is the hinge of biblical narrative: so, thereupon, and then. 于是大卫向扫罗起誓, so David swore to Saul. Unlike 就 and 便, it stands at the very front of the clause, which makes it one of the easiest signposts to spot when reading at speed.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 于是 667 times. 0 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
Its distribution is a fact about genre rather than grammar. It belongs to narrative, so the historical books carry nearly all of it and the poetry almost none.
It is commonest in Genesis, with 58 of them, and 81% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 于是 | yú shì | 4 | 667 |
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 | 667 | 100% |
| the same words doing something else | 0 | 0% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Genesis | 58 |
| Acts | 52 |
| 2 Kings | 50 |
| Judges | 46 |
| 1 Samuel | 39 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
Counted
The rule: 于是 as the first word of its clause.
30 of 667 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
- What is the difference between 于是 and 所以?
- 于是 is sequence — this happened, then that. 所以 is inference — this is so, therefore that. Narrative wants the first; the letters want the second.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 667 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 667 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Genesis, with 58 — followed by Acts (52), 2 Kings (50), Judges (46).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 于是 as the first word of its clause. 30 of its 667 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.