"My older sister is busy."

Translation: 我的姐姐很忙。

[bjoerges]

Why 很忙 not just 忙？

[Thomas292098]

Best to think of 很 as "is" or can think in Chinese is something isn't spoken about as "very" then it isn't worth mentioning :)

Eg.
我很忙 , I'm (very) busy
我很好, I'm (very) good
我的家很大, My home is (very) big

I'm sure more words for 'very' will be taught later that actually mean 'very'.

[cazort]

For one of the words that actually means "very", 非常？

[akavel]

I believe "very" also works as "is" in some situations, though not sure 100% what's the distinction

[CorgiCerberus]

If you want to stress the 很 (very), you'd need to modify the sentence to something like: 我真的很忙。(I'm truly very busy). Adding another adverb in there changes the nature of "很" from adverb that links the subject to the adjective to an adverb that helps describe the verb.

[MeirelesMatheus]

From what I understood hen is used to connect the subject with adjectives

[alex.maslov]

it is not 'very'. it is like 'be' if adj. the next.

[ShamsHasan01]

Why is "是忙" not correct?

[Pierfrancesco98]

Because 忙 is an adjective. Adjectives in Chinese don't need verbs, since they express a state of being by themselves: 忙 means "being busy", rather than "busy". 很 is used to connect nouns with adjectives, like a conjunction I think.

[Eyamakurenai]

Почему "Хан", а не "Шё"? Why "han", not "是“？

[AndyLiao8]

Quick question... is saying two words "姐姐“ considered both formal and informal? For example, would simply saying ”我的姐" be correct?

[ChrisJ.C.]

I lived in China for over a decade and never heard the "的" particle being used when referring to people, at least not in the case of relatives or friends, as doing so is considered as too formal or distant. Am I wrong?