"你很高兴，我也很高兴。"
Translation:You are happy, I am also happy.
88 Comments
So my understanding is that the meaning of 很, when used with adjectives, is much closer to "is" (it's used basically all the time without carrying much weight) BUT the behavior is much closer to "very", since if you pick another adjective it will replace 很, rather than being used in addition. Since in other situations it does mean "very" and it's important to get used to adjectives not requiring a verb to link them with the noun, most language courses seem to just teach it as "very" and then slowly wean you off translating every emotional state expressed in Chinese as extra intense ;)
I do think both translations should be allowed and would report any sentences that don't, though. The course staff do seem to be actively fleshing out the range of accepted translations based on that feedback :)
As a native speaker, who also consulted with other native speakers, I can vouch that the verb "to be" is often implied in Chinese. Therefore, contrary to so many people's claims, 很 is not needed to connect the subject (ex. 我) to the adjective (ex. 高兴). Think of the common questions 你好吗? or 你好不好? There's no "to be" or any verb in those sentences. The sentences 我病了, 我生病了 and 我有病 (literal translation "I have sickness.") all mean "I'm sick," but the first one contains NO verb. Therefore, please ONLY use 很 if you want to express "very." (Yes, people may use 很, similarly to the "very" used in "Very happy to meet you" without truly meaning it, as in being polite/welcoming, but this doesn't make 很 a connector word.)
Open duolingo in a browser, Firefox, UC Browser or any other that you have in your android phone. The app lacks discussion and tips in some programs. I can access tips on my phone for Chinese language but not for Turkish or others.
Why is there no slow playback button? They speak so fast for new learners.
Tips and notes
When we want to describe something we don’t use the verb “to be”, we have to put something else before an adjective. The most common word used to do this is 很 hěn, which literally means very. It goes between the subject (who or what we are describing) and the adjective (what we are describing it as). Since 很 is used so often like this, it oftentimes doesn’t mean “very”, just a link between a noun and an adjective.
*Pinyin in brackets is the actual pronunciation as a result of the change of tone.
Chinese ----- Pinyin ----- English
我很好。----- Wǒ hěn[hén]* hǎo. ----- I'm good.
你很高兴。----- Nǐ[ní] hěn gāoxìng. ----- You are happy.
The word for “also” or “too” is much less flexible in Chinese than in English. It must always come after the subject and before the verb.
Chinese ----- Pinyin ----- English
我也认识你。----- Wǒ[wó] yě rènshi nǐ. ----- I also know you. / I know you, too.
我也很高兴。----- Wǒ yě[yé] hěn gāoxìng. ----- I am happy, also. / I am also happy.
也 can also be used in the phrase "If X is... then Y is (also) ..." Here we don't need to use 很.
Chinese ----- Pinyin ----- English
你高兴，我也高兴. ----- nǐ gāoxìng, wǒ[wó] yě gāoxìng. ----- If you are happy then I am happy.
你很高兴，我也很高兴。----- nǐ[ní] hěn gāoxìng, wǒ yě[yé] hěn gāo xìng. ----- You are happy, I am also happy.
我高兴，他也高兴。----- wǒ gāo xìng, tā yě gāoxìng ----- If I am happy then he is happy.
They are on tge desktop version. You can check them on mobile by looking on chrome or other browsers and clicking see as desktop/pc
That is such a pity, they have not integrated the full experience in the app! I can only squeeze Duolingo in during my commute on the app. :( I am sure there are many like me.
I'm a native Chinese speaker who's testing through the Duolingo Chinese program to review written Chinese. In Chinese, the verb is not necessary or can be implied by the adjective. Therefore, hen to me always means very. I can say I am happy with 我高兴. Also, "if" is not implied in "你高兴，我也高兴. ----- nǐ gāoxìng, wǒ[wó] yě gāoxìng. ----- If you are happy then I am happy" If someone said "你高兴，我也高兴" to me, I would understand it as "You're happy. I'm happy as well."
Thank you a lot for every thing you wrote !
Had there been a clarification like this for every comment , it would've been a blessing for mobile users.
So if 很 is just a link between, for example, "I" and "happy", and doesn't mean "very"... how would one signify that "I am very happy"? Would this be 我很很高兴 ?
not 很很. There are other words you can use to increase the intensity of your happiness. You could say 我真高兴，or 我非常高兴, or even 我高兴及了
I think "You are happy, and I am too" should be accepted based on the way "too" is used in English.
In the example page I could swear they translate the first part as "IF you are happy..." If I am correct, why there and not here?
86
There is a small difference between the sentences. Watch for the 很 (hěn) character! It literally means "very", but can affect sentence meaning in other ways.
Examples (from Tips and Notes):
This sentence DOES NOT have 很 (hěn), and translates WITH IF... 你高兴，我也高兴。nǐ gāoxìng, wǒ yě gāoxìng. If you are happy then I am happy.
This sentence DOES have 很 (hěn), and translates WITHOUT IF... 你很高兴，我也很高兴。nǐ hěn gāoxìng, wǒ yě hěn gāo xìng. You are happy, I am also happy.
Thank you. I will move forward with this as the rule. Much appreciated.
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Very helpful, I also remembered it being "if...then". so seeing it again was necessary for me to understand.
As a native speaker, who also consulted with other native speakers, I can vouch that the verb "to be" is often implied in Chinese. Therefore, contrary to so many people's claims, 很 is not needed to connect the subject (ex. 我) to the adjective (ex. 高兴). Think of the common questions 你好吗? or 你好不好? There's no "to be" or any verb in those sentences. The sentences 我病了, 我生病了 and 我有病 (literal translation "I have sickness.") all mean "I'm sick," but the first one contains NO verb. Therefore, please ONLY use 很 if you want to express "very." (Yes, people may use 很, similarly to the "very" used in "Very happy to meet you" without truly meaning it, as in being polite/welcoming, but this doesn't make 很 a connector word.)
it is difficult to take the placement test with simplify. what is this crap "兴" why not use as well this original 興. sorry for expressing my frustrations, I am learning to read books that i written in traditional Chinese
You are very happy, I am also very happy. They didn't include 2x of the word "very"
how are commas and periods translated?
in the sentence, it has the comma in the middle, and ends with the circle period. however, the translation says each one is a sentence. Why does the chinese have the comma?
iirc, the use of 很 and similar modifiers is often a consideration of cadence, rhythm, etc. it doesn't sound right to a native speaker if the wrong number of syllables are spoken. Kinda like in English songs, where you things are described as "old" or preceded with a "this" or "that", because the line has fewer beats than the melody.
I keep mixing up 你 and 我 for some reason...Anyone have any tips on not getting Me and You mixed up because it's frustrating to be below on my skills level because I'm interpreting it wrong :/
I got a dodgy way of remembering.
The character for I: 我 (wǒ) looks similar to the japanese kanji for I: 私 (watashi).
我 and 私 both look similar and begin with a "w" sound
So then 你 (nĭ) by elimination is "You"
我 is actually used in Japanese too, but it's われ (ware), which is one of many 1st person personal pronouns in Japanese. (私 (watakushi, watashi, atashi, washi)、我 (ware)、僕 (boku)、俺 (ore), etc.)
Check the pattern. I used to think that "Ni" is there's like a one slide on a stick while "Wo" has a 3 slide, and a bended stick. I this thing didn't, try to write it ten times on a paper. It's the best way to memorize.
Sorry. This is the kind of thing you'd say if you were on drugs. You are happy! I am happy!
I like it when you get it correct and then yu can wipe out the answer and just say you did nothin' XD
I'm Chinese, though not from China so I can't exactly vouch for their use. Where I'm from, "你很高兴，我也很高兴。" is usually (if ever) spoken as "你高兴，我也很高兴。", where the second "很" is optional. It's generally used as a phatic tool mark agreeability, etc. It's not really commonly used, tbh...
I would also agree that any instance using 很 should accept 'very.' Thus, if we write 很高兴 it should translate to 'happy' as well as 'very happy.' The intended meaning may not need the 'very' but I'm sure I'm not the only one that gets frustrated when getting that one wrong.
um so i had exactly the same answer as it should be but it was marked as wrong? What?
I had no idea what tne answer was will have to start it all over again i guess
Please translate "hen" as very. Was taught mandarin in Shanghai, and the teachers there would not use it unless you actually wanted to say l am "very" happy (or anything else for that matter)
I typed the exact sentence given as the correct translation and was still told that my translation is incorrect.
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I wonder if when you want 很 to mean "very" in this sentence you have to provide the verb 是 - as in 我是很高兴。 Or would you have to say 我是很地高兴。 Does anyone know?
Nope. The statement "我是很地高兴。" is an ungrammatical construction in Chinese. "我很高兴。" by itself already means "I am very happy", wherein "am very" is denoted by "很" in this case. It's rather similar to "我非常高興", where "非常" denotes "am extremely".
how come in one of the corrections it showed "You are happy, and I am also happy", but here it shows as 2 seperate sentences "You are happy. I am also happy" ? (note it accepts I am happy too as correct)
"Ah, you are happy, I am as well" "A, nǐ hěn gāoxìng, wǒ yě yīyàn" "啊， 你很高兴， 我 也 一样"
"You're happy so I am also happy" wasn't an accepted translation, is it because of my use of the word "so?"
I tried "you're pleasured", but the test said that was wrong and that the answer was "You're pleased". Both don't make much since in English...
I didn't use "also", but I used "I am happy, too", and I got it wrong =.=...
Please allow some flexibility for similar expressions...
I wrote: "If you are happy, I am also happy." Why was this marked wrong? Please help.
What happened to it being possible as an "If... then..." when 也 is present?
I think there is a bug here. I wrote the sentence in the right way however the app understood I was wrong.
Is this phrase spoken often? and why wouldn't we use " ta me gao xing"?
