How to say 很

  • Traditional characters: 很
  • Pinyin (Taiwan standard): hěn
  • Zhuyin (bopomofo): ㄏㄣˇ
  • Meaning: very (also just marks an adjective as the sentence's predicate)

Hear it in a Taiwan accent:

很 in example sentences

Real lines from CiaoSpeak’s graded stories, each with pinyin, an English translation and Taiwan-accent audio.

台南坐高鐵才一個半小時，可是高鐵票很貴。

Tái nán zuò gāo tiě cái yí ge bàn xiǎo shí kě shì gāo tiě piào hěn guì

Tainan's only an hour and a half on the high-speed rail — but those tickets are pricey.

From the story 台南還是花蓮？ (Tainan or Hualien?)

市場很吵，可是有剉冰。芒果剉冰，一碗六十塊。

shì chǎng hěn chǎo kě shì yǒu cuò bīng máng guǒ cuò bīng yì wǎn liù shí kuài

The market's noisy, but it has shaved ice. Mango shaved ice, sixty a bowl.

From the story 三十六度 (Thirty-Six Degrees)

放心，明天我會很驚訝。

fàng xīn míng tiān wǒ huì hěn jīng yà

Relax. Tomorrow I'll be very surprised.

From the story 驚喜派對 (The Surprise Party)

謝謝你來。還有，蠟燭很漂亮。

xiè xie nǐ lái hái yǒu là zhú hěn piào liang

(whispering back) Thanks for coming. And the candles are lovely.

From the story 驚喜派對 (The Surprise Party)

對，而且要用中文講。我很緊張。

duì ér qiě yào yòng zhōng wén jiǎng wǒ hěn jǐn zhāng

Yes — and I have to give it in Chinese. I'm really nervous.

From the story 準備簡報 (Getting Ready for the Presentation)

Where 很 is taught

  • Unit level: TOCFL Novice 2 (CiaoSpeak’s placement, not the official TOCFL word list)
  • Unit: Sentence Basics
  • Lesson: Describing Things
  • Taught just before: 你是不是老師？
  • Taught just after: 個