Learn Hardcore Chinese: chāoshì lǐ de yǐnliào hěn duō, shūcài yě hěn xīnxiān. - There are many drinks in the supermarket, and the vegetables are also very fresh.

In this sentence, we care about what is inside the supermarket (drinks, vegetables), not the supermarket as an abstract thing. So 里 is used to specify the location.

Compare:

超市关门了。 – The supermarket is closed. (talking about the store itself)
超市里人很多。 – There are many people in the supermarket. (talking about what’s inside)

What is the function of 的 in 超市里的饮料? Why do we need it?

的 (de) links a descriptive phrase to a noun, similar to “’s” or “of” or sometimes just “that/which” in English.

超市里 = inside the supermarket
超市里的 = (the things) in the supermarket
饮料 = drinks
超市里的饮料 = the drinks in the supermarket

Structure:

[place phrase] + 的 + [noun]
= the [noun] that is at/in/from that place

Examples:

桌子上的书 – the book on the table
学校里的老师 – the teachers in the school
中国的茶 – tea from China

Without 的, 超市里饮料很多 sounds wrong; you need 的 to make 超市里 into an adjective-like phrase that modifies 饮料.

Could I say 超市的饮料很多 instead of 超市里的饮料很多? What’s the difference?

You can say 超市的饮料很多, and it is grammatical:

超市的饮料很多。 ≈ The supermarket’s drinks / the drinks at the supermarket are many.
超市里的饮料很多。 ≈ The drinks in the supermarket are many.

Nuance:

超市的饮料 focuses more on “drinks belonging to / sold by the supermarket” (ownership or association).
超市里的饮料 emphasizes the location: the drinks that are physically inside the supermarket.

In many everyday contexts, they will feel very similar, but 里 makes the physical location clearer.

Why is there 没有 “是” (no “to be”) before 很多 and 新鲜? In English we say “are many / are fresh”.

In Chinese, adjectives can act like verbs (they’re often called “stative verbs”). You don’t need 是 before them when they’re used as predicates.

Patterns:

Noun + 很 + Adjective
- 蔬菜很新鲜。 – The vegetables are fresh.
Noun + 很 + Adjective-like word
- 饮料很多。 – The drinks are many / there are many drinks.

If you said 饮料是很多, it would sound more like:

“The drinks are indeed many” / “As for the drinks, (they) are many” (with contrast or emphasis), not a neutral description.

For neutral descriptions, you use:

Subject + 很 + Adj
No 是 needed.

Does 很 (hěn) really mean “very” here? Are the drinks and vegetables very many/fresh?

In sentences like this, 很 often does not strongly mean “very”. It mainly works as a link between the subject and the adjective, making the sentence feel natural and preventing a comparative reading.

饮料多。 can sound like “the drinks are (relatively) more (than something else)” or have a bit of a comparative / evaluative flavor.
饮料很多。 is the normal, neutral way to say “there are many drinks.”

Same with 蔬菜新鲜 vs. 蔬菜很新鲜:

蔬菜新鲜。 – grammatically ok, but can sound slightly abrupt or like a bare statement (often used in written language, labels, ads).
蔬菜很新鲜。 – the natural spoken way: “the vegetables are fresh.”

So in many basic descriptive statements:

很 + adjective ≈ just “is/are + adjective”

If you want a strong “very”, you can use intonation, or a stronger word like 非常, 特别, etc.:

蔬菜非常新鲜。 – The vegetables are very fresh.

Why is it 很多 and not just 多? Is 多 an adjective or something else?

多 (duō) is an adjective meaning “many / much”.
很 is an adverb of degree.

很多 (hěn duō) = “many” (often taught and used as a chunk)
多 alone is also fine as a predicate: 人多 – there are many people / it’s crowded.

In this specific structure:

饮料很多。 – There are many drinks.
Here, 饮料 is the subject, 很多 is the predicate (“are many”).

You could say 饮料多, especially in shorter comments:

这里饮料多。 – There are lots of drinks here.

But 饮料很多 is very standard and slightly more neutral/natural for a full sentence, especially in textbooks.

Why is it 蔬菜也很新鲜 and not 也蔬菜很新鲜 or 蔬菜很也新鲜? Where does 也 (yě) go?

也 is an adverb meaning “also / too”. In Chinese, adverbs normally go before the verb or adjective they modify.

The pattern is:

[Topic/Subject] + 也 + [predicate]

In this sentence:

蔬菜 = vegetables (subject)
很新鲜 = very fresh / (are) fresh (predicate)
也 goes before the predicate:
蔬菜也很新鲜。

This means: “The vegetables are also fresh” (in addition to whatever was just said about something else—in this case, the drinks).

Wrong or unnatural orders:

也蔬菜很新鲜 – wrong; 也 can’t modify the noun like that.
蔬菜很也新鲜 – wrong; 也 doesn’t go inside 很 + adj.

So you should remember:

我也喜欢。 – I also like (it).
他也会说中文。 – He can also speak Chinese.
蔬菜也很新鲜。 – The vegetables are also (very) fresh.

Why is it 超市里的饮料很多 and not 超市里有很多饮料? What’s the difference between these two?

Both are correct, but they have slightly different structures and focus.

超市里的饮料很多。
- Subject: 超市里的饮料 – “the drinks in the supermarket”
- Predicate: 很多 – “are many”
- Feels like: “The drinks in the supermarket are many.”
超市里有很多饮料。
- Subject: 超市里 – “in the supermarket” (as a location)
- Verb: 有 – “there is / there are / have”
- Object: 很多饮料 – “many drinks”
- Feels like: “There are many drinks in the supermarket.”

In practice, both usually translate to:

There are many drinks in the supermarket.

Nuance:

有-sentence emphasizes existence: there exist many drinks there.
X 的 Y 很多 emphasizes the Y (drinks) and describes a property (“many”).

In your original sentence, both clauses have the pattern [noun phrase] + 也/很 + adjective, so 超市里的饮料很多，蔬菜也很新鲜 has nice parallel structure.

Why are there no measure words? Why not 很多种饮料 or 很多个饮料?

Chinese often allows bare nouns (no explicit plural, no measure word) when you speak in general or about an indefinite amount.

饮料很多。 – There are many drinks. (general amount)
蔬菜很新鲜。 – The vegetables are fresh. (talking in general)

Measure words are needed when you’re being specific about the quantity:

三瓶饮料 – three bottles of drinks
两种饮料 – two kinds of drinks
五种蔬菜 – five kinds of vegetables

Using 很多个饮料 is usually wrong, because 个 is not the typical measure for 饮料; you’d use:

很多瓶饮料 – many bottles of drinks
很多杯饮料 – many cups of drinks
很多种饮料 – many kinds of drinks

But if you just mean “there are many drinks” without specifying how you count them, 饮料很多 is fine.

How does this sentence express tense? Is it present, past, or future?

Chinese verbs and adjectives do not change form for tense. There is no -ed or -s, etc. Tense is usually understood from context or from time words.

Your sentence:

超市里的饮料很多，蔬菜也很新鲜。

By default, if no time word is given, it is understood as a general or present description:

“The drinks in the supermarket are many, and the vegetables are also fresh.”

If you want to make it clearly past or future, you add time words:

昨天超市里的饮料很多，蔬菜也很新鲜。
Yesterday the drinks in the supermarket were many, and the vegetables were also fresh.
明天超市里的饮料会很多，蔬菜也会很新鲜。
Tomorrow there will be many drinks in the supermarket, and the vegetables will also be fresh.

The grammar stays the same; you just add time expressions or modal words like 会 for future.

Is 超市里的饮料 the subject or just a topic? How does word order work here?

In 超市里的饮料很多:

超市里的饮料 functions as the subject of the sentence.
很多 is the predicate (the “verb-like adjective” describing the subject).

Chinese is often described as topic–comment, and this sentence also fits that idea:

Topic (what we’re talking about): 超市里的饮料 – the drinks in the supermarket
Comment (what we’re saying about it): 很多 – (they) are many

In many simple sentences, topic = subject, which is the case here. So you can safely think of 超市里的饮料 as the subject of 很多.

Can I change the order of the two clauses? For example: 蔬菜也很新鲜，超市里的饮料很多。 Does it still sound natural?

Yes, you can swap the two clauses:

超市里的饮料很多，蔬菜也很新鲜。
蔬菜也很新鲜，超市里的饮料很多。

Both are grammatical. The main difference is what you introduce first:

Original: first talks about drinks, then adds that the vegetables are also fresh.
Reversed: first talks about vegetables (also fresh—implying something said earlier), then mentions that drinks are many.

In isolation, the original order feels slightly smoother because 也 (“also”) clearly refers back to the first clause about drinks. In the reversed order, the reference of 也 might be less obvious without more context, but it’s still okay if the broader context makes it clear what “also” refers to.