Henry couldn't pinpoint it at all. His girlfriend was the most amazing woman he had ever known. She was beautiful and sexy and stunningly smart - much smarter than him he realized subconsciously. Yet while his feelings were clearly reciprocated by the way she looked at him, there was also something about her gaze that stirred up a feeling of deep unease. But what could be the problem?

Are you just starting to learn Chinese? In this lesson for absolute beginners to the Chinese language, join us as we share some tips for complimenting the guy or girl of your dreams. In addition to being useful for telling someone else how great you think they are, you can also use these tricks to tell them how great you are in return. Because if you're going to be dating a male or female supermodel, there's nothing wrong with a little self-promotion every now and then.
 said on
April 20, 2011
@Echo,

What is the difference between 很 & 得很?

Also, you might be able to make me feel better. At university I lived with a girl from Beijing, when she left at the end of the year she left me a message in English. It said Goodbye, nice to know you, you are a really nice person. Then she had crossed out the really!!! Do you think it was because really and nice were similar so she thought she was wrong? Or did she just decide she didn't like me as much as she thought! haha
 said on
April 20, 2011
That's hilarious, Sue. I should try that the next time I'm in salary or contract negotiations.

 said on
April 20, 2011
@gingersue4242,

Hahahahaha... I'm sure she was just not confident enough about her English grammar.

About 很 & 得很, you want to use 很 before an adjective, like 我很好; you want to use 得很 after an adjective, for example, 我好得很. (Same meaning, people use the first one more.)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 20, 2011
@Gingersue4242,

People all around China use the 得很 structure, but in my experience people from 华北 Northern China and 西南 Southwest China use it the most. You can place virtually any adjective before 得很 and it would mean the same thing as 很+adj.

One phrase I hear alot is that 成都人假得很!

To my knowledge 得很 is used when you want to give 很 a greater vocal enphasis, thereby ratcheting up the degree, much like when we accentuate REALLY or SO in English. She is SO pretty! He is SO rich! He's driving REALLY fast!

For example, if you were to say 他人很假 it wouldn't have the same punch as 他人家得很!

Also, the 得很 structure works better with one character adjectives.
 said on
April 20, 2011
Thank you both for your kind help :D I understand now :D
 said on
April 3, 2012
Is 好 - hǎo really correctly translated in the vocab as "really"?
 said on
April 3, 2012
@Noah.Pflugradt,

Yes :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
May 9, 2012
So, tomorrow, I will go and say to my boss 你真傻! and see what happens ;)

 said on
May 9, 2012
@james_eatonuk,

Lol, does he or she understand Chinese?

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
May 10, 2012
Oh he understands Chinese, but he didn't know this phrase. Luckily we're friends so I got away with it.