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- "They are happy."
"They are happy."
Translation:他们很高兴。
36 Comments
You are correct if you don't know the gender of the group or if it's mixture of males and females, but if you are talking about a group of girls that are happy then you should use 她們很高興。
775
Like @Vrikn said. And if you don't know the gender of one person or address a mixed group, you also default to 他/他們.
Why does it need 很 when the translation is simply "happy" i was taught that 很 is an emphasis, as in "very happy" or 很好 ”very good".
- 1062
Read my explanation to Brigitte Benett here:
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/25223593
I hope help you.
This is true. I have flagged every time they use the character for"very" (hen) but don't state "very." In this question, I was correct to just use "gao xing" without"hen" because they didnt say "very" in the English sentence.
when speaking in chinese to a native speaker, saying "ta men gao xing" just sounds a bit plain, so "hen" is sort of used like an article of speech here such as "ma" at the end of a yes/no question would be. it's there to help the sentence flow better, to show more emotion, and to link the noun to the adjective.
Why don't we have verb (are) 是 here ? Why do we say 他们 很高兴 and not 他们是高兴 ？
Same. I wrote 他们是高兴 how does that not read as "They are happy" ?? Is dualingo being picky or is that actually an incorrect sentence?
Ohhhh does 他们 in this case already mean "They are" so by saying 他们是 you are saying "They are are" and that is why it is not correct maybe?
他们高兴。also seems to be accepted here. Is it more colloquial, perfectly neutral, etc?
It is more neutral. 很 modifies adjectives to be more intense, in a way 'very.' People who know more, correct me!
"他们很高兴." means "They are very happy.", since "很" means "very". Very happy is not the same as happy.
This entry from the Tips and Notes should explain: https://www.duolingo.com/skill/zs/Greeting-2/tips-and-notes
是 is verb and 很 is adverb so you use 很 defore an adjective. You can't say： “他是高兴” but： “他很高兴”.
It makes sense because in the opposite way, you cannot say： 他很老师 (he very a teacher) but：”他是老师“ (he is a reacher)
Was it rejected for you? Apparently it was accepted a few months ago (cf. my earlier comment).
I knew it right away because Rosetta Stone has it written the same way but I can understand the alternative you all are talking about
Generally both work, 他们很高兴 is general whereas 她们很高兴 is just girls/women.
