Learn Hardcore Chinese: hěnduō niánqīng rén zài wǎngzhàn shàng kàndào tā de huà, juéde hěn yǒuyìsi. - Many young people see her paintings on the website and find them very interesting.

很多年轻人 means “many young people” as a noun phrase. Here, 很多 is modifying 年轻人, telling us which people we’re talking about.
年轻人很多 would usually be a complete sentence meaning “There are many young people,” where 很多 is the predicate (like an adjective) describing 年轻人.

So in this sentence we need “Many young people …” as the subject, so we say 很多年轻人.

Why doesn’t 年轻 need 的 before 人? Why is it 年轻人 and not 年轻的人?

Both are possible, but the nuance is slightly different:

年轻人 is a common set phrase meaning “young people” in general, like a category or group.
年轻的人 literally means “people who are young”, and feels a bit more like a descriptive phrase, often used when contrasting or emphasizing.

In this sentence, we’re just referring to young people as a group, so 年轻人 is the more natural choice.

What is the function of 人 in 年轻人? Can we drop it and just say 很多年轻在网站上…?

You can’t drop 人 here.

年轻 by itself is only “young” (an adjective).
年轻人 is “young person / young people” (a noun).

Chinese often forms nouns by adding 人 after an adjective:

聪明人 – clever person
富人 – rich person
老人 – old person

Without 人, 很多年轻 is incomplete and ungrammatical here.

What is the role of 在 in 在网站上看到? Could we omit 在?

在 marks the location of the action: 在网站上 = “on the website / on websites”.

在 + place + 上 is a common pattern:
- 在学校里 – at school
- 在桌子上 – on the table
- 在网上 / 在网站上 – on the internet / on a website

If you removed 在 and just said 网站上看到, it’s still understandable and often heard in speech, but 在网站上 is the standard full form and feels more complete and natural in writing.

Why do we need both 在 and 上 in 在网站上? Doesn’t that repeat the idea of “on”?

They play slightly different roles:

在: introduces the location of the action (“at / in / on”).
上: is a postposition that further specifies the spatial relationship (“on / on top of / on the surface of / in the context of”).

With abstract “locations” like websites, internet, etc., 在…上 is an established pattern:

在网上 – on the internet
在网站上 – on a website
在电视上 – on TV

So 在网站上 is natural and idiomatic; it doesn’t feel redundant to native speakers.

What is the difference between 看 and 看到 here? Why not just 看她的画?

看 is the basic verb “to look / to watch / to read”.
看到 is 看 + 到, where 到 is a result complement meaning “manage to / successfully / to the point of reaching”.

看: just the action of looking
看到: the action reaches a result — you actually see it

In English, 看到 is often closer to “to see / to catch sight of” rather than just “to look at”. Here, 在网站上看到她的画 emphasizes that they come across / see her paintings on a website, not just that they are looking at them intentionally.

How is 看到 different from 看见?

Both often translate as “see”, and in many everyday contexts they are interchangeable. Slight tendencies:

看见: a bit more colloquial, very commonly used in speech.
看到: uses the general result complement 到, and can feel slightly more neutral or versatile in combinations.

In this sentence, you could also say:

在网站上看见她的画

It would still be natural. The choice of 看到 vs 看见 here is not crucial; both are okay.

What does 的 do in 她的画?

的 marks possession or association.

她 – she / her
她的 – her (possessive)
她的画 – her paintings / her drawings

So 的 here is like the English “’s” or “of” in “her paintings” / “the paintings of hers”.

Why is 觉得 used instead of something like 想 or 认为?

These verbs all relate to thinking/feeling, but with different nuances:

觉得: “to feel / to think” in the sense of personal subjective feeling or opinion. Very common in everyday speech.
想: “to think, to want, to miss” — more about the process of thinking or wanting, not a settled opinion.
认为: “to believe / to hold the opinion that” — tends to sound more formal or objective.

In this sentence we’re talking about people’s subjective reaction (“they feel (that it’s) very interesting”), so 觉得 is the most natural choice.

Why is there 很 before 有意思? Does 很 here mean “very”?

Grammatically, 很 often appears before adjectives used as predicates. It can mean “very”, but in many neutral contexts it’s more like a link that makes the sentence sound natural.

Without 很, 觉得有意思 can sound either:
- a bit bare/clipped, or
- like a strong contrast (e.g., “I do find it interesting (not boring)”), depending on context.

So 很有意思 here could be translated:

literally: “(feel it is) very interesting”
more naturally in English in many contexts: “(think it’s) really / quite interesting”

In spoken Chinese, people often add 很 before adjectives like this even when they don’t strongly emphasize “very”.

What exactly does 有意思 mean? Is it the same as “interesting”?

有意思 literally is “to have meaning”, but in everyday speech it commonly means:

interesting
amusing
fun / entertaining
sometimes “meaningful” (in a more emotional sense)

Context decides the best English translation.
In this sentence, 很有意思 is naturally “very interesting” or “really interesting (in a good way)”.

Note: 有意思 is generally positive. If you want “meaningful” in a deeper, serious sense, you might use 很有意义 instead.

Why is the word order 在网站上看到她的画，觉得很有意思 and not something like 觉得她的画在网站上看到很有意思?

Chinese tends to follow this pattern:

Time / place / manner first
Then the subject
Then the main verb / action
Then the complement (result, feeling, evaluation, etc.)

Here the structure is:

很多年轻人在网站上看到她的画，
- Subject: 很多年轻人
- Place phrase: 在网站上
- Verb-object: 看到她的画
觉得很有意思。
- Verb of mental state: 觉得
- Adjective predicate: 很有意思

To say they think her paintings are interesting, Chinese often leaves out the internal “it is” clause and just says:

看到她的画，觉得很有意思
literally: “(They) saw her paintings and felt very interesting.”
The understood object of 觉得 is 她的画 from context.

Is there an implied “她的画很有意思” after 觉得?

Conceptually, yes. The full logical meaning is:

他们觉得她的画很有意思。
“They think (that) her paintings are very interesting.”

But Chinese often drops the repeated part when it’s obvious from context. So you just say:

看到她的画，觉得很有意思。
“(They) saw her paintings and felt (they were) very interesting.”

The object of 觉得 (what they think is interesting) is understood rather than explicitly stated.

Can we add 他们 and say 很多年轻人…，他们觉得很有意思? Is that more correct?

You can say it, and it’s grammatically correct:

很多年轻人在网站上看到她的画，他们觉得很有意思。

But Chinese often omits pronouns when they are clear from context. The subject 很多年轻人 already tells us who is doing the “feeling/thinking”, so repeating 他们 is not necessary.

The shorter version is more typical and natural:

很多年轻人在网站上看到她的画，觉得很有意思。

Why don’t we need a measure word before 画? Shouldn’t it be 一幅画 or 她的画儿 etc.?

Measure words are needed when you count or specify how many of something:

看了一幅画 – looked at one painting
看了几幅画 – looked at several paintings

Here, we’re talking in general about her paintings as a whole, not a specific number:

在网站上看到她的画 – “see her paintings on (a) website”

In this kind of general, non-counting usage, the bare noun 画 is fine without a measure word. Also, 她的画 here could mean “her artwork / her paintings” collectively, not one single painting.

Is there any tense marker here? How do we know this happened in the past?

Chinese generally doesn’t mark tense (past/present/future) the way English does. Instead, it relies on:

Context
Aspect particles like 了, 过, 着 (not used here)
Time expressions (昨天, 现在, etc., also not used here)

In this sentence, it can be interpreted as habitual (“Many young people (nowadays) see her paintings online and think they’re interesting”) or past depending on context.

If you wanted to clearly mark a completed past event, you could add 了:

很多年轻人在网站上看到了她的画，觉得很有意思。
(More clearly: they saw (successfully) her paintings online and thought they were interesting.)