How to use ‘hen’ in Chinese

In Chinese, nouns are linked in different ways to adjectives and other nouns. Nouns are linked to nouns with 是 (shì). Nouns are linked to adjectives with 很 (hěn).

中文里，名词可与形容词和其它名词以不同方式连用。名词与名词之间用"是"连用，名词与形容词之间用"很"连用。

Noun + 很 + Adj

The noun in this structure is the subject of the sentence. Sometimes the 很 (hěn) in this structure is translated as "very", but often it is just a way to link a noun to an adjective.

结构里的名词是句子的主语。有时结构里的"很"会被译为"very"，不过它经常只是名词连接形容词的一种方式。

Examples

In the following examples, 很 (hěn) is just a link, and the sentences could be translated as "(Noun) is (adjective)".

以下的例子中，"很"只是起连接作用，句子可以被译为"(名词) is (形容词)"。

我很好。

wǒ hěn hǎo.

I'm good.

你很漂亮。

nǐ hěn piàoliang.

You are pretty.

他很高兴。

tā hěn gāoxìng.

He is happy.

老板很生气。

lǎobǎn hěn shēngqì.

The boss is angry.

我哥哥也很高。

wǒ gēge yě hěn gāo.

My elder brother is also tall.

你家也很远吗？

nǐ jiā yě hěn yuǎn ma?

Is your house also far away?

他和他弟弟都很帅。

tā hé tā dìdi dōu hěn shuài.

His younger brother and him are both handsome.

Remember that 是 (shì) is not used to link adjectives to nouns. This is often a classic mistake that almost everyone makes when learning Chinese. Make sure you use 很 (hěn) and not 是 (shì) to link adjectives to nouns, as shown below:

注意，"是"不能用于连接形容词和名词，这是几乎所有学习中文的人常见的典型错误。要确保用"很"而不是"是"去连接形容词和名词，如下：

He is tall.

(WRONG)他是高。

tā shì gāo.

他很高。

tā hěn gāo.

Translated from: allsetlearning

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