很

Adjective in English is always connected with "be" (am, is or are).

she is beautiful.

I am smart.

They are tall.

But in Mandarin, adjective is not connected with "be"(是 shì), so we cannot just directly translate from English to Mandarin, for instance:

1. 她是漂亮。 Tā shì piào liang.

2. 我是聰明。Wǒ shì cōng míng.

3. 他們是高。Tā men shì gāo.

if you translate like this, it will be confusing for Chinese Mandarin speaker. Because 是 in Mandarin is used to indicates a person, or thing, not adjective. In sense like when we say "she is the boss"; "This is wallet" in English. But when we talk about adjective in Mandarin, please do not use "be" or 是, and use 很 or 非常 if you want to emphasis on the adjective (非常 fēi cháng means extremely / so very much). so the correct translation for these sentence are:

1. she is beautiful: 她很漂亮。Tā hěn piào liang.

2. I am smart: 我很聰明。Wǒ hěn cōng míng.

3. They are tall: 他們很高。Tā men hěn gāo.

Now tell me what are the translation for these sentences:

1. I am healthy

2. She is teacher

3. This house is big

4. They are busy

5. I am student