很 meaning in English
very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element)
Meaning of 很
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- very; quite
- (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element)
How to use 很
很 goes before adjectives and some verbs of feeling, like 很好 (hěn hǎo) or 很喜欢 (hěn xǐhuan). In simple statements it is often needed just to link the subject and adjective, so it may not mean very at all. Example: 我很好。(Wǒ hěn hǎo.) I am fine.
很 (hěn) has the walking radical 彳 on the left and 艮 (gěn) on the right, which also hints at the sound. Picture someone walking stubbornly on, going very far, to remember that 很 means very.
Common mistake: Learners often write 我是好 (wǒ shì hǎo) for I am good, but Chinese uses 很 instead of 是 before adjectives: 我很好. Also, do not confuse 很 with 狠 (hěn, ruthless), which has the dog radical 犭 instead of 彳.
很 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
很 hěn · very · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 很.
| 很难说 | hěn nánshuō |
Questions about 很
What does 很 mean?
很 (hěn) means "very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element)" and is used as a adverb.
How do you write 很?
很 is made of 1 character: 很 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 很 an HSK word?
Yes. 很 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 我很高兴 not always mean I am very happy?
In a plain statement, 很 is often a grammatical filler that makes the sentence sound complete. To really stress very, Chinese speakers may stress 很 in speech or use 非常 (fēicháng) or 特别 (tèbié).
What does 很难说 mean?
很难说 (hěn nánshuō) means it is hard to say. You use it when you cannot predict something, for example 明天会不会下雨，很难说。(Míngtiān huì bú huì xià yǔ, hěn nánshuō.) Whether it will rain tomorrow is hard to say.