The First 100 Characters Every Beginner Needs to Memorize
Just months before arriving in Beijing, I asked my Chinese friend to give me a Chinese name. She said it was easy since “Andy” can be transliterated to just 安迪 (ān, safe; dí, guide). When I did some background research of places to visit in Beijing, Tian’anmen 天安门 (Tiān’ānmén or Gate of Heavenly Peace) was one of the recommended spots. The word Tian’anmen got me really interested in learning more characters because it had the same ān as in my name. Then I started using Pleco to decipher subway station names (especially when it’s overcrowded or when I’m on a long train journey).
I remember my Chinese teacher telling me that I would have to memorize not only the phrases but also the pinyin and the characters if I wanted to learn Chinese. It’s hard I must say, but just knowing basic characters will give you enough background to get around, especially when you’re traveling, dining out, or going to malls.
I found several resources listing the first 100 Chinese characters beginners to the language might memorize. The first 50 are almost the same, but the lists differ when it comes to the 60 to 100 character tier. Regardless, this list from Learning Chinese Everyday (learnchineseeveryday.com) certainly helps, especially for knowing about 80 characters that can help beginners to the language compose simple sentences.
If you find pronouncing the characters difficult, click "Read more" to access the starter guide which provides an easy way to speak the four Chinese tones. In the list below, you’ll find the pronunciation guide along with a number, its grammatical function, and lexical meaning. The number indicates the character’s usage in most Chinese conversations.
The website also says that “to understand 90 percent of the content in Chinese publications, students have to learn only about 900 Chinese characters and 11,000 phrases/words.”
1 的 (de / 95.9) – particle used after an attribute
2 一 (yī / 94.3) – noun one
3 是 (shì / 93.0) – verb to be; adjective correct, right
4 不 (bù / 91.8) – adverb no
5 了 (le / 90.7) – particle used after an action that has taken place or changed
6 在 (zài / 89.7) – preposition in, on, at; adverb indicating an ongoing action
7 人 (rén / 88.7) – noun human, people, person soul
8 有 (yǒu / 87.8) – verb have, possess, get, there is
9 我 (wǒ / 86.9) – pronoun I; 我的 wǒde my; 我们 wǒmen we, us
10 他 (tā / 86.1) – pronoun he, him; 他的 tāde his
11 这 (zhè / 85.3) – pronoun this, these
12 个 (gè / 84.7) – general measure word for nouns without specific measure words; adjective individual
13 们 (men / 84.1) – pronoun used to form a plural pronoun
14 中 (zhōng / 83.5) – noun center, middle, in the midst of; abbrev. China
15 来 (lái / 82.9) – verb arrive, come; indicate an intended action; particle indicate time period from past to present
16 上 (shàng / 82.4) – preposition on, above, upper; verb go up, go to, leave for; adjective last, most recent
17 大 (dà / 81.8) – adjective great, large, big; age; eldest
18 为 (wèi / 81.3) – preposition for, in the sake of
19 和 (hé / 80.8) – conjunction and; preposition in connection to, with; adjective gentle; noun total, sum
20 国 (guó / 80.3) – noun country, state; adjective national
21 地 (dì / 79.8) – noun the ground; land, soil; place, area
22 到 (dào / 79.3) – verb arrive, reach, go to; preposition up until, to
23 以 (yǐ / 78.8) – preposition by, for; conjunction and, as well as
24 说 (shuō / 78.4) – verb to say, speak, talk; to explain; to scold
25 时 (shí / 77.9) – noun period of time; time of day, hour
26 要 (yào / 77.5) – verb to want, ask for, wish; must, should; shall, will; take, need; adjective important, essential
27 就 (jiù / 77.1) – adverb at once, right away; already; precisely
28 出 (chū / 76.7) – verb to go out, go beyond; exceed; to issue, produce; to happen
29 会 (huì / 76.3) – verb can, be able to; would, might; to assemble; to meet; noun meeting, party; association
30 可 (kě / 76.0) – verb can, may; conjunction but, yet, however
Click "Read more" for the rest of the character list.
This article first appeared on our sister website beijing-kids.com.
Image: sensiblechinese.com
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