Learn Hardcore Chinese: Gēn bùtóng guójiā de tóngxué jiāoliú kànfǎ, ràng tā juéde shìjiè hěn dà. - Exchanging views with classmates from different countries makes her feel the world is very big.

跟不同国家的同学交流看法
= (She) exchanges views with classmates from different countries
→ this is a verb phrase (an action).
让她觉得世界很大
= makes her feel (that) the world is big
→ this is the main part that tells you the result.

Chinese often puts a whole action at the beginning as the topic or reason, then uses 让 to show the result:

跟不同国家的同学交流看法，(这件事)让她觉得世界很大。
Exchanging views with classmates from different countries, (this) makes her feel the world is big.

The (这件事) this thing is understood, not said. So the structure is:

[Action / experience], 让 + person + feel/think …

This is very natural in Chinese but looks unusual from an English word‑order perspective.

Who is actually doing the action 交流看法? There is no subject before it.

The subject 她 is omitted before 交流看法, but it is understood from context.

The full, very explicit form would be:

她跟不同国家的同学交流看法，这(件事)让她觉得世界很大。
She exchanges views with classmates from different countries; this makes her feel the world is big.

In real Chinese:

If the subject doesn’t change and is clear, it is often left out.
So (她) is understood in 跟不同国家的同学交流看法.

Subject dropping like this is extremely common in Chinese, especially when the same person is the subject of multiple clauses.

What exactly does 跟 do in 跟不同国家的同学交流看法? Could we use 和 instead?

Here 跟 means with, indicating the person you are interacting with.

跟 A 交流 = exchange / communicate with A.

You could also say:

和不同国家的同学交流看法

In most everyday contexts, 跟 and 和 are interchangeable when they mean with:

跟朋友聊天 / 和朋友聊天 – chat with friends
跟老师讨论 / 和老师讨论 – discuss with the teacher

Subtle tendencies:

跟 often feels a bit more colloquial/spoken.
和 is slightly more neutral, maybe a bit more written/formal in some contexts.

But here, 跟 and 和 are both fine.

What does 不同国家的同学 literally mean? Why is 的 there?

Breakdown:

不同 – different
国家 – country
不同国家 – different countries
不同国家的同学 – classmates of/from different countries

The 的 links the modifier to the noun:

[不同国家] 的 [同学]
→ classmates (who are) from different countries

In English you might say:

classmates from different countries
classmates of different nationalities

In Chinese:

X 的 Y means Y that is/are X or Y with X.
So 不同国家的同学 is 同学 who are from different countries.

What does 交流看法 mean? Is 交流 a verb or a noun here?

Here 交流 is a verb, and 看法 is its object.

交流 – to communicate, exchange (ideas, information)
看法 – views, opinions

So 交流看法 means to exchange views / to share opinions.

Structure:

跟 + people + 交流 + 看法
= exchange views with some people

You will often see 交流 used like this:

交流经验 – exchange experiences
交流文化 – exchange cultures
交流信息 – exchange information

What is the nuance of 看法? How is it different from 想法 or 意见?

All three relate to what someone thinks, but there are differences:

看法 – viewpoint, way of looking at something
- Often used for opinions on an issue.
- 你对这个问题有什么看法？ – What’s your view on this issue?
想法 – thought, idea
- More general; can be personal ideas, plans, feelings.
- 说说你的想法。 – Tell me what you think / your idea.
意见 – opinion, suggestion, criticism
- Often used when asking for feedback, suggestions, or objections.
- 大家有什么意见？ – Does anyone have any comments/suggestions?

In this sentence, 看法 fits well because they are sharing views about things, maybe cultural, social, or academic topics.

How does 让 work in 让她觉得世界很大? Is it like make/let in English?

Yes. Here 让 is a causative verb meaning to make / to cause (someone to do/feel something).

Pattern:

让 + person + verb phrase

In this sentence:

让 – makes/causes
她 – her
觉得 – feel / think
世界很大 – the world is big

So 让她觉得世界很大 = makes her feel (that) the world is big.

Similar patterns:

这件事让我很感动。 – This thing moved me a lot.
天气太热，让我睡不着。 – The weather is too hot; it makes me unable to sleep.

Other words like 使 and 叫 can also be causative, but:

使 is more formal/written.
叫 is more colloquial in some regions, often like 让.

Here 让 is the most natural choice.

Why is it 世界很大 and not 世界是大的? Where is the verb to be?

In Chinese, adjectives can act as verbs (stative verbs). When you say:

世界很大

You are literally saying:

The world big (in the sense of is big).

You do not usually need 是 between a subject and an adjective when the adjective is the predicate:

他很高。 – He is tall.
这本书很好。 – This book is very good.

You do use 是 before a noun:

她是老师。 – She is a teacher.
这里是图书馆。 – This is the library.

So 世界很大 is the natural way to say the world is big.
世界是大的 is grammatically possible but sounds more formal/emphatic, descriptive, not the simple everyday statement used here.

Why is 很 used before 大? Does it always mean very?

Here 很 is partly a degree marker and partly a linker that makes the adjective sound natural as a predicate.

In basic statements with adjectives, using 很 often does not strongly mean very; it can just mean is:

他很高。 – He’s (quite) tall / He is tall.
今天很冷。 – It’s (quite) cold today / It is cold.

If you say 世界大, it can sound:

A bit abrupt or like a contrast (e.g., in a list or slogan).
In modern Mandarin, 世界很大 is the normal neutral statement.

So here:

世界很大 = the world is big, not necessarily the world is very big with strong emphasis.

To really emphasize, people may add adverbs like:

非常大 – extremely big
特别大 – especially / really big

Why is there a comma between 交流看法 and 让她觉得世界很大? Are these two separate sentences?

They are two clauses in one sentence, in a cause → result structure.

First clause (cause/topic):
跟不同国家的同学交流看法，
Exchanging views with classmates from different countries,
Second clause (result/main statement):
让她觉得世界很大。
makes her feel that the world is big.

The comma works like linking two related clauses in English, similar to:

Exchanging views with classmates from different countries makes her feel that the world is big.

After exchanging views with classmates from different countries, she feels that the world is big.

Chinese often uses commas in this way to connect:

reason → result
background → main point
condition → outcome

Can we change the word order, for example: 跟不同国家的同学交流看法让她觉得世界很大 (without a comma), or start with 她?

Yes, there is some flexibility.

Without the comma:

跟不同国家的同学交流看法让她觉得世界很大。

This is still correct. It just reads as one continuous clause:

Exchanging views with classmates from different countries makes her feel the world is big.

The meaning doesn’t really change; the comma just makes the structure visually clearer.

Starting with 她:

她跟不同国家的同学交流看法，让她觉得世界很大。

This is also grammatical, but now 她 appears twice:

She exchanges views with classmates from different countries, (and that) makes her feel the world is big.

In careful writing, some might prefer to avoid repeating 她 and keep the original version. The original sentence is a very natural, compact way to say this in Chinese.

How is tense expressed here? How do we know if this is about the past, present, or future?

Chinese does not mark tense (past, present, future) with verb changes like English does. Instead, it relies on:

Context
Time words (昨天, 现在, 明天, etc.)
Aspect particles (了, 过, 在, 着, etc.)

In:

跟不同国家的同学交流看法，让她觉得世界很大。

There is no explicit time word or aspect marker, so it could be:

past: (She did this in the past and) it made her feel the world is big.
general/habitual: Doing this (whenever it happens) makes her feel the world is big.

If you want to make it clearly past, you could add:

以前跟不同国家的同学交流看法，让她觉得世界很大。
In the past, exchanging views with classmates from different countries made her feel the world is big.

Or use 过 or 了 elsewhere depending on the exact nuance.