# 很 Appears Only 47 Times in the Bible

> 很, the word an HSK 1 course teaches for linking a subject to an adjective, occurs 47 times in the whole Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) — against 甚, 极 and 大大, which between them carry the job instead.

**Pattern:** subject + 很 + adjective
**HSK level:** 1 — 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'
**Rule used to find it:** 很 immediately before a word whose dictionary entry offers no verb sense — a predicate adjective rather than 很 + verb.
**Confidence:** approximate — 30 of 32 matches checked, 80% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

In modern Mandarin an adjective cannot simply follow its subject: 他好 is incomplete, and 他很好 is the ordinary way to say he is well, with 很 carrying almost none of its literal sense of very. It is one of the first patterns any course teaches, and a reader arrives at the Chinese Bible expecting to see it everywhere.

The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 很 47 times. 15 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.

They will not. This translation was made in 1919 in a literary register, and it marks degree the classical way — 甚大, exceedingly great; 大大欢喜, greatly rejoiced; 极宝贵的, most precious. The table below counts the candidates and shows a real verse for each, because a claim about what a translator preferred is worth nothing without the verse it came from.

It is commonest in Acts, with 6 of them, and 34% 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.

## Examples

- **Deuteronomy 15:16** — 他若对你说：『我不愿意离开你』，是因他爱你和你的家，且因在你那里很好，
  - tā ruò duì nǐ shuō ：『 wǒ bú yuàn yì lí kāi nǐ 』， shì yīn tā ài nǐ hé nǐ de jiā ， qiě yīn zài nǐ nà li hěn hǎo ，
  - It shall be, if he tells you, “I will not go out from you,” because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you,
  - construction: 很好
- **Psalms 119:157** — 逼迫我的，抵挡我的，很多， 我却没有偏离你的法度。
  - bī pò wǒ de ， dǐ dǎng wǒ de ， hěn duō ，  wǒ què méi yǒu piān lí nǐ de fǎ dù 。
  - Many are my persecutors and my adversaries. I haven’t swerved from your testimonies.
  - construction: 很多
- **Matthew 19:22** — 那少年人听见这话，就忧忧愁愁地走了，因为他的产业很多。
  - nà shào nián rén tīng jiàn zhè huà ， jiù yōu yōu chóu chóu de zǒu le ， yīn wèi tā de chǎn yè hěn duō 。
  - But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions.
  - construction: 很多
- **Numbers 11:18** — 又要对百姓说：『你们应当自洁，预备明天吃肉，因为你们哭号说：谁给我们肉吃！我们在埃及很好。这声音达到了耶和华的耳中，所以他必给你们肉吃。
  - yòu yào duì bǎi xìng shuō ：『 nǐ men yīng dāng zì jié ， yù bèi míng tiān chī ròu ， yīn wèi nǐ men kū hào shuō ： shuí gěi wǒ men ròu chī ！ wǒ men zài āi jí hěn hǎo 。 zhè shēng yīn dá dào le yē hé huá de ěr zhōng ， suǒ yǐ tā bì gěi nǐ men ròu chī 。
  - “Say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, and you will eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat.
  - construction: 很好
- **Luke 6:49** — 惟有听见不去行的，就像一个人在土地上盖房子，没有根基；水一冲，随即倒塌了，并且那房子坏的很大。」
  - wéi yǒu tīng jiàn bú qù xíng de ， jiù xiàng yí gè rén zài tǔ dì shàng gài fáng zi ， méi yǒu gēn jī ； shuǐ yì chōng ， suí jí dǎo tā le ， bìng qiě nà fáng zi huài de hěn dà 。」
  - But he who hears and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
  - construction: 很大
- **Mark 10:22** — 他听见这话，脸上就变了色，忧忧愁愁地走了，因为他的产业很多。
  - tā tīng jiàn zhè huà ， liǎn shàng jiù biàn le sè ， yōu yōu chóu chóu de zǒu le ， yīn wèi tā de chǎn yè hěn duō 。
  - But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.
  - construction: 很多

## The words this point is built on

| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 很 | hěn | 1 | 47 |

The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 1.

## What those occurrences are doing

|  | Occurrences | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| the construction | 32 | 68% |
| the same words doing something else | 15 | 32% |

## Where it occurs most

| Book | Clauses |
| --- | --- |
| Acts | 6 |
| Mark | 6 |
| Luke | 5 |
| Ezekiel | 3 |
| Matthew | 3 |

Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.

## Words the 和合本 uses in the same slot

| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 甚 | shèn | not graded | 268 | the classical degree adverb, before a stative verb |
| 更 | gèng | 2 | 238 | comparative degree, 'still more' |
| 极 | jí | 4 | 144 | 'extremely', usually before a modifier plus 的 |
| 大大 | dà dà | 2 | 120 | a reduplicated adverb of degree before a verb |
| 最 | zuì | 1 | 78 | superlative degree |
| 甚是 | shèn shì | not graded | 46 | two-syllable 甚, before a stative verb |

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.

## Questions

**So should I stop learning 很?**

No — it is indispensable in spoken Chinese and in anything written after about 1950. The point is narrower and more useful: a reader who learns grammar from this translation will not meet it, and a reader who learns it from a textbook will not recognise what the Bible uses in its place.

**How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?**

about 32 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 47 occurrences of the words that mark it.

**Which book of the Bible uses it most?**

Acts, with 6 — followed by Mark (6), Luke (5), Ezekiel (3).

**How do you know the count is right?**

The rule is: 很 immediately before a word whose dictionary entry offers no verb sense — a predicate adjective rather than 很 + verb. 30 of its 32 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 80% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.

Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/grammar/hen-adjectival

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