Learn Hardcore Chinese: Yǒu le jiǎngxuéjīn hé jiārén de zhīchí, tā xuéxí de xìnxīn bǐ yǐqián duō le hěn duō. - With the scholarship and his family’s support, he has much more confidence in his studies than before.

First 了 in 有了奖学金
- Attached directly to 有.
- Marks a new state / completed acquisition: he has now gotten the scholarship (and support).
- This is often called aspect 了 (了1).
Second 了 in 多了很多
- Belongs to the whole predicate 多了很多.
- Indicates that the amount of confidence has changed compared to before.
- This is often called sentence 了 / change-of-state 了 (了2).

So:

First 了: he now has the scholarship and support.
Second 了: his level of confidence is now different (higher) than before.

Why does the sentence start with 有了奖学金和家人的支持， instead of using 因为?

The front part 有了奖学金和家人的支持， functions like a reason or condition, similar to English:

“With a scholarship and his family’s support, ...”
“Now that he has a scholarship and his family’s support, ...”

Chinese often omits 因为 when the cause comes first and is obvious.

You could also say:

因为有了奖学金和家人的支持，他学习的信心比以前多了很多。
This is perfectly correct, just a bit more explicit.

The original version is natural and slightly more concise: cause clause, then main result clause.

What exactly does 比 do in 学习的信心比以前多了很多?

比 is the standard word for “than” in comparisons.

Basic pattern:

A 比 B + Adjective / Verb phrase
Meaning: “A is (more …) than B”

In this sentence:

A = 学习的信心 (his confidence in studying / study confidence)
B = 以前 (before / in the past)
Predicate = 多了很多 (has become much more)

So 学习的信心比以前多了很多 literally means:

“His study confidence, compared to before, has become much more.”
Natural English: “He is much more confident about his studies than before.”

Note that 以前 here stands in for “the way his confidence was before”, so the noun 信心 is not repeated.

Why do we have both 多 and 很多 in 多了很多? Isn’t that redundant?

They are not redundant; they have different roles.

多 is the main stative verb / adjective: “to be much / to be many / to be more”.
了 shows a change: the amount has increased.
很多 is a degree complement: “by a lot”, “by very much”.

Compare:

多了 = “(it is) more now” (increase, but no idea how big)
多了一点 = “a little more now”
多了很多 = “much more now / a lot more now”

So 多了很多 specifically conveys a large increase, not just “more”.

What is the role of 的 in 家人的支持 and 学习的信心? Can I leave it out?

的 links a modifier to a noun, often like “’s” or “of” in English.

家人 + 的 + 支持
= “family members’ support / support from his family members”
学习 + 的 + 信心
= “confidence (related to) studying / confidence in his studies”

Can 的 be dropped?

家人支持 — possible in many contexts, especially spoken or headline style.
It’s a bit more compact and slightly more “phrase-like” than 家人的支持, but the meaning is almost the same.
学习信心 — also possible, and looks a bit more like a set phrase (study confidence).
学习的信心 is a bit more explicit and neutral.

So:

With 的: a bit more explicit, slightly more formal/standard.
Without 的: shorter, often fine in everyday Chinese, especially with short, familiar combinations.

What’s the difference between 家人 and 家庭 here? Could it be 家庭的支持?

Yes, you could say 家庭的支持, but there is a nuance:

家人 = family members, the people: parents, siblings, etc.
- 家人的支持 focuses on those people personally supporting him.
家庭 = the family unit / household or family as an institution.
- 家庭的支持 sounds a bit more abstract, like “support from his family (as a unit)”.

In everyday speech, 家人的支持 is more common and vivid here, because we imagine his mother, father, etc. encouraging him.

Why is there no measure word with 奖学金 and 信心?

Because in this sentence they are treated as uncountable / mass nouns.

奖学金:
- Often refers to “scholarship money” in general.
- If you want to count specific scholarships, you can add a measure word:
  - 一份奖学金 (one scholarship, one scholarship grant)
  - 一笔奖学金 (one sum of scholarship money)
信心:
- Is an abstract noun, like “confidence” in English.
- You normally don’t say “one confidence, two confidences”.
- You just say 有信心, 很有信心, 增加了信心, etc., without a measure word.

So the lack of measure words here is natural and standard.

Could I use 更 instead of 多了很多, for example 比以前更有学习的信心? What’s the difference?

Yes, that’s a very natural alternative; it just uses a slightly different structure.

Original:
- 学习的信心比以前多了很多。
- Focus: the amount of confidence is much more than before.
- Structure: A 比 B + 多了很多.
Alternative:
- 他比以前更有学习的信心。
- Structure: A 比 B 更 + 有 + N.
- Meaning: “He has more study confidence than before” / “He is more confident about his studies than before.”
- Focus: his having more confidence (rather than directly describing the “quantity” of confidence).

Another close variant:

他学习的信心比以前更足。 (His study confidence is stronger than before.)

In short:

多了很多 explicitly says “a lot more”.
更 just says “more”, without specifying how much (though context can imply “a lot”).

Can I rearrange the word order, like 他学习的信心多了很多比以前 or 他比以前学习的信心多了很多?

Those specific orders are ungrammatical or very awkward.

The standard comparative pattern is:

A 比 B + Predicate

In the original:

A = 学习的信心
比 B = 比以前
Predicate = 多了很多

So:

✅ 学习的信心比以前多了很多。
❌ 学习的信心多了很多比以前。 (比以前 is in the wrong place)
❌ 他比以前学习的信心多了很多。 (this splits the phrase in an odd way)

Correct alternative rewrites:

✅ 他比以前有更多学习的信心。
✅ 现在他学习的信心比以前多了很多。

What exactly does 以前 refer to here? Does it need something like 以前的情况 or 以前的时候?

以前 by itself means “before (now) / in the past” and is often left very general.

In this sentence, from context, 以前 really means:

“before he had the scholarship and his family’s support”

Chinese usually leaves that connection implicit.

Saying 以前的情况 (the previous situation) would sound too heavy and not necessary.
You could say 以前的时候, but it’s longer and doesn’t add much:
- 他学习的信心比以前的时候多了很多。 (correct but wordier)

So 以前 alone is natural and sufficient here.

Is 和 the only word I can use between 奖学金 and 家人的支持? Could I use 跟?

You can use 跟 here; both are acceptable, with a small nuance.

和 and 跟 can both mean “and” when linking nouns.
In this sentence:
- 有了奖学金和家人的支持
- 有了奖学金跟家人的支持
  Both are understandable.

Differences:

和 is more neutral / standard, common in both spoken and written Chinese.
跟 is often more colloquial, very common in speech.

Written texts (like textbooks, essays) more often use 和 in this kind of phrase.

Could we say 得到了奖学金和家人的支持，他学习的信心比以前多了很多 instead of 有了奖学金和家人的支持? What’s the difference?

Yes, that sentence is also correct, with a slightly different emphasis.

有了:
- Highlights the new state:
  “Now that he has a scholarship and family support…”
- Focus: currently possessing / enjoying these things.
得到了:
- Highlights the act of obtaining / receiving:
  “After he obtained a scholarship and his family’s support…”
- Focus: the event of getting them.

In context, both convey almost the same overall idea; 有了 feels a bit more like “with / now that there is …”, while 得到了 feels more like “having received …”.