很

很 (hěn) is the most common Chinese intensifier, usually translated as 'very,' but its real job is grammatical, not emphatic. In Chinese, an adjective on its own often implies a comparison (我累 'I'm tired (in contrast to others)'), so native speakers add 很 to make the sentence sound complete and neutral: 我很累 simply means 'I'm tired,' not necessarily 'I'm VERY tired.' This is why textbooks teach 很 as a near-mandatory partner for predicate adjectives.

When 很 is stressed in speech, it does function as 'very' — but the unstressed default is closer to 'is.' For real emphasis Chinese uses 非常, 特别, 真, or 太. 很 is one of the first 50 characters every learner meets.