The Foundation characters

1. Know what a character is

   Each character is one syllable and usually carries one meaning: 人rén is a person, 大dà is big. Most words are one or two characters, and the meanings often add up: 中zhōng (middle) and 国guó (country) make 中国Zhōngguó, China. The characters you need are the ones in the words on your tier's list, and Learn shows the pinyin of every word above it.

2. Start with the characters that began as pictures

   Some of the simplest characters were once drawings of what they mean. 山shān still shows three peaks, 人rén a person walking and 口kǒu an open mouth. 日rì was the sun and 月yuè the moon, and 水shuǐ shows water flowing. Learn these first: they turn up again as parts of harder characters.

3. Use the radical to guess the meaning

   Most characters are built from parts, and one part, the radical, hints at the meaning. Characters about water, like 河hé, 海hǎi and 洗xǐ, have three drops on the left. Characters you do with your mouth, like 吃chī, 喝hē and 唱chàng, have 口kǒu on the left. Women in the family, 妈妈māma, 姐姐jiějie and 妹妹mèimei, have 女nǚ on the left.

4. Use the sound part as a clue to the sound

   Another part of a character often hints at how it is said. 马mǎ (mǎ, horse) is inside 妈mā (mā) and the question word 吗ma (ma); 青qīng (qīng) is inside 请qǐng (qǐng) and 晴qíng (qíng). The clue gives the sound but often not the tone, so check each word as you learn it.

5. Write the strokes in the right order

   Strokes go from top to bottom (三sān) and from left to right (明míng: 日rì first, then 月yuè). A horizontal comes before a vertical that crosses it (十shí). In a box, write the outside, then the inside, and close the bottom last (国guó, 四sì). The right order makes characters quicker to write and easier to remember.

6. Know the basic strokes and count them

   Every character is made from a few kinds of stroke: the horizontal, the vertical, the dot, a stroke falling to the left, one falling to the right, a hook and a turn. 大dà has a horizontal and two falling strokes, three in all, and 人rén has two. Counting strokes helps you copy a new character carefully, without adding or leaving out a line.

7. Build new words from characters you know

   Once you know a character, you can often work out words made with it. 电diàn (electric) gives 电视diànshì, 电脑diànnǎo and 电影diànyǐng. 车chē (vehicle) gives 火车huǒchē, 汽车qìchē and 自行车zìxíngchē, and 学xué (study) gives 学生xuésheng, 学校xuéxiào and 大学dàxué. In a reading text, a new word with a familiar character in it is a clue, not a stopping point.

8. Spot the word endings 子zi, 家jiā and 员yuán

   A few characters go on the end of a word to make a noun. 子zi, said in the neutral tone, ends many everyday things: 桌子zhuōzi, 椅子yǐzi, 孩子háizi. 家jiā can mean an expert in something, as in 画huà家jiā, a painter. 员yuán means someone with a job or a role: 服务员fúwùyuán (waiter), 售货员shòuhuòyuán (shop assistant).

Character

A written Chinese sign that stands for one syllable and usually one meaning, such as 人rén or 学xué.

Radical

The part of a character that hints at its meaning, such as the 女nǚ in 妈mā or the three drops of water in 海hǎi.

Sound part

The part of a character that hints at how it is said, such as the 马mǎ in 吗ma. It rarely gives the tone.

Stroke

One line of a character, written without lifting the pen. 人rén has two strokes and 大dà has three.

Stroke order

The set order for writing a character's strokes: top before bottom, left before right, and a box closed last.

Pictograph

A character that began as a picture of what it means, such as 山shān, 日rì or 口kǒu.

Simplified characters

The forms of the characters used in mainland China, which we teach: 学xué rather than the older full form. Pearson's papers are printed in both forms.

Compound word

A word made of two or more characters, such as 电视diànshì or 学校xuéxiào. Its meaning often comes from the parts.

• Mixing up 买mǎi (buy) and 卖mài (sell), which differ by a few strokes on top.

  卖mài has an extra 十shí on top: you need more to sell than to buy. Learn them as a pair, with their tones, mǎi and mài.

• Writing a character that sounds the same but means something else, such as 在zài见jiàn for 再见zàijiàn.

  A character that only sounds right can stop a reader understanding you. Learn every character inside its word: 再zài (again) in 再见zàijiàn, 在zài (at) in 在zài家jiā.

• Leaving a stroke out or adding one, so 我wǒ (I) turns into 找zhǎo (look for).

  我wǒ starts with a short stroke falling to the left at the top; leave it out and you have 找zhǎo. Count the strokes of each new character and copy it out a few times.

• Writing the sound part without its radical, such as 马mǎ for 吗ma or 妈mā.

  The radical is part of the character. 吗ma is a question word you say, so it takes 口kǒu; 妈mā is a woman, so it takes 女nǚ.

• Mixing up characters that look alike, such as 人rén (person) and 入rù (enter), or 大dà (big) and 太tài (too).

  Find the stroke that differs: 入rù leans the other way from 人rén, and 太tài adds a dot under 大dà.

More Pinyin and characters topics

• Pinyin and tones
• The Higher characters
• Word order
• Shì, yǒu and zài
• Measure words
• Numbers, dates and time

Keep reading

• What are the GCSE Chinese (Mandarin) grade boundaries?
• The GCSE Chinese (Mandarin) syllabus, explained