# 十分 / 非常



## Staarkali

Hello all,

is there any difference (meaning, usage, etc) between 十分 and 非常? Some friends told me they are not always interchangeable, but weren't more precise.
Can I say:
我非常高兴 & 我十分高兴
这样做非常有危险 & 这样做十分有危险 
非常好！ vs 十分好！

Thanks in advance!


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## Ghabi

Staarkali said:


> 这样做非常有危险 & 这样做十分有危险 (should be deleted)


I think it's rather personal. To me they're the same.


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## LQZ

To my way of thinking, they are interchangeable.

她非常漂亮=她十分漂亮


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## kath_01

I agree, these two words are pretty much interchangeable when both mean "very".


But not interchangeable when 非常 means: unusual, extraordinary, unique
e.g.  非常婚禮 (unusual wedding) , 非常上訴 (extraordinary appeal, aspecial law procedure)

十分 can't be replaced when it actually means the number 10 in cases like the amount one tenth (1/10),  and 十分鐘. besides that, there is a town in Taiwan named 十分


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## Geysere

I have the feeling that 非常 is excessively used compared to 十分  
But they are equivalent in most cases.


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## ck65

well, i've got a simple way for you, Staarkali.
when saying a sentence like "我非常喜欢赵忠祥!" or "我十分喜欢赵忠祥!" (I adore Zhao Zhongxiang so much), it's usually ok with both 非常 and 十分.
when saying a phrase as a  very short sentence like "非常好!" or "非常高!" (very good, very high) and any other things such as "very + a single character of adjective", I reckon it's better not to use 十分 here. At least most of my mates use it like this.


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## mardeny

I think 十分 spoken language, 非常 written language.


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## 4u4me4ever

Staarkali said:


> Hello all,
> 
> is there any difference (meaning, usage, etc) between 十分 and 非常? Some friends told me they are not always interchangeable, but weren't more precise.
> Can I say:
> 我非常高兴 & 我十分高兴
> 这样做非常有危险 & 这样做十分有危险
> 非常好！ vs 十分好！
> 
> Thanks in advance!


 
I think they are almost the same when used as adverb,非常 is widely used both in written and oral,but 十分 is more formal.


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## Chinoise

It's kind of like the difference between "quite" and "a lot".  They both mean "very".

I quite like this song.
v.s.
I like this song a lot.

Very slight difference between the two.  I do not agree however, one being spoken and the other written.

You are right about not always interchangeable, for instance, I wouldn't say "十分好" at all, but I'd definitely say "非常好", or a more low-key, but most common.  "很好".  Hope this helps.


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## xiaolijie

> I wouldn't say "十分好" at all, but I'd definitely say "非常好"


Here're some more:
You can say 不十分... but you can't say 不非常...
On the other hand, you can say 非常非常... but you probably can't say 十分十分...


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## Geysere

xiaolijie said:


> You can say 不十分... but you can't say 不非常...


"不十分"?? Does it mean "不太..."? Suprisingly I don't think I've heard it before! 孤陋寡闻了...


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## Ghabi

Geysere said:


> "不十分"?? Does it mean "不太..."? Suprisingly I don't think I've heard it before! 孤陋寡闻了...



Interesting, because I hear people say that all the time. Would you mind telling us which part of China are you from?


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## Jason2

I have heard it. But not often.  We often use "不太".  I think they are same.


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## BODYholic

^^ Ditto in Singapore. We rarely hear (but yes, I have ever heard) people say 不十分. "不太" is by far the most common from where I am I would say.


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## Geysere

Ghabi said:


> Interesting, because I hear people say that all the time. Would you mind telling us which part of China are you from?


I come from Hu Bei, but now I'm in HK as you are (with my poor cantonese). Do you often hear that in mandarin or cantonese? 

On second thought, I think I've heard things like "...并不是十分的..." but the greatly shortened form doesn't sound smooth to me.


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## kath_01

Geysere said:


> I come from Hu Bei, but now I'm in HK as you are (with my poor cantonese). Do you often hear that in mandarin or cantonese?
> 
> On second thought, I think I've heard things like "...并不是十分的..." but the greatly shortened form doesn't sound smooth to me.



I'm a native cantonese speaker,
and I'll have to say, i tend to use 十分 mostly in written chinese

for speaking, I think I only use it as in 十分之開心 (same as in 非常之開心)
I personally think "不十分開心" is really unnatural to hear, cause one thing is I use 唔 instead of 不  in speaking..


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## Ghabi

Geysere said:


> I come from Hu Bei, but now I'm in HK as you are (with my poor cantonese). Do you often hear that in mandarin or cantonese?



In Mandarin, on radio and in the street. But I should not be surprised, since everyone's Mandarin is a bit different after all (not just regional but also personal, as shown in many of the discussions of this forum), and it always takes some getting used to when you go from one province to another, although everyone is supposed to speak the same official language. (By the way, believe me, your Cantonese can't be poorer than my Mandarin.)


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## baixiaoming

非常 is more used than 十分
in most cases,,whether use 非常 or 十分，depends on our habits....


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## bibliomaniac15

I mostly use 非常, and in the North I've mostly heard 非常. I don't really see a difference between the two.


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## camusjoy

Same at most time


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## Jason2

Yes, I agree.


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## wxr588

“非常”跟“十分”稍有不同。“非常”可以重叠，“十分”不能。“十分”前可用“不”降低程度，“非常”不能。

---《现代汉语规范词典》外语教学与研究出版社 p. 378


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## Ema_Skye

"十分好" is a bit weird. "非常好" is fine.


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## jerinwong

kath_01 said:


> I agree, these two words are pretty much interchangeable when both mean "very".
> 
> 
> But not interchangeable when 非常 means: unusual, extraordinary, unique
> e.g. 非常婚禮 (unusual wedding) , 非常上訴 (extraordinary appeal, aspecial law procedure)
> 
> 十分 can't be replaced when it actually means the number 10 in cases like the amount one tenth (1/10), and 十分鐘. besides that, there is a town in Taiwan named 十分


 
Hi, they were talking about how 十分 and 非常  used as adjectives, you misunderstood. the two words both could mean, very..


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## 我说汉语

I did a little search in the corpus. It seens that 非常 is more often used in spoken Chinese, while 十分 more in written Chinese.

非常comes from "not ordinary"(extraordinarily)
十分 is close to perfectly. In the old days, we do not use "%", but things are devided by ten. So if you say 十分, that's equal to 100%.


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## YangMuye

wxr588 said:


> “非常”跟“十分”稍有不同。“非常”可以重叠，“十分”不能。“十分”前可用“不”降低程度，“非常”不能。
> ---《现代汉语规范词典》外语教学与研究出版社 p. 378


不非常，十分十分 is of course right, at least in the dialect I speak.
Maybe, I'm not speaking 规范现代汉语



			
				我说汉语 said:
			
		

> I did a little search in the corpus. It seens that 非常 is more often used in spoken Chinese, while 十分 more in written Chinese.
> 
> 非常comes from "not ordinary"(extraordinarily)
> 十分 is close to perfectly. In the old days, we do not use "%", but things are devided by ten. So if you say 十分, that's equal to 100%.


I say “十分” but write “非常”。


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## Staarkali

thanks all, that is more than I need on this topic  thanks!


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## hevanpal

十分（地）  非常（地） 极其（地） are advs before a adjs,which are usually used in written language. this is the two-letter words. there are nearly no between the two, trust me,i am a Chinese native speaker,but there are many used in spoken language such as 太 很  like very or quite or rather in English. 
我太高兴了 to express you are strongly happy and glad. if you say 我很高兴。 this is just a description of your mood.


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## IWantToLearnFrench

非常 and 十分 are the same thing, it just means "very".

There are also a lot of words to replace 非常 and  十分。

For instance, 
格外，分外， 很（最简单）the simplest


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## Wenchu

十分 is usually used in t written texts while 非常 is widely used both in written texts and oral speeches. In other words, 十分 is a very formal adv.


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## zzhcharles

In your case, I think they mean the same thing. “非常”or “十分”is more a personal choice.


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