Chinese course / HSK1 / Characters
HSK1: character recognition
Begin with the gentle character starter if these shapes are new. This page is the official HSK 3.0 study list, with links to words containing each character. Use five to ten targets alongside words you already understand.
Look at a character inside a familiar word. Cover the word's reading and meaning, recall them, then open its example to check. Recognising a component alone does not tell you the meaning of every word containing it.
Pinyin may show the usual tone of 一 or 不. Their spoken tones can change in a sentence. The foundation lesson on tone changes explains how to say these changes.
1 character · Batch 1 of 1. Showing the selected level's list.
人
Learn inside a word
Two sloping strokes meet near the top. Compare 人 with 大, which has an extra horizontal stroke.
人 · rén
person
Read a sentence
门口有两个人在等车。
Show sentence reading and meaning
Mén kǒu yǒu liǎng ge rén zài děng chē.
Two people are waiting for transport at the entrance.
Practise this character in its guided group. The guided sequence introduces selected useful words across levels.
家人 · jiārén
family members
These are whole-word readings and selected meanings. A character can have another reading or function in another word.
Learn the 2 strokes · write 人
Watch the direction and order. Use “Next stroke” to go slowly, then try writing with the model hidden. On paper, copy once, cover the model, write once, and compare.
Open this panel to load the model.
The writing check compares your strokes with this model. A completed trace is practice, rather than proof of independent handwriting. Your strokes stay on this page.
The model's font shape can differ from the reading font. Compare stroke structure and proportions rather than font styling.
Source and coverage
Character lists come from the official HSK 3.0 syllabus. Recognition and handwriting lists remain separate. All listed characters have local stroke models; the guided prose teaches selected characters. This inventory, model practice and word links do not constitute complete character instruction or exam readiness.
Stroke models: Hanzi Writer Data, derived from Make Me a Hanzi. Copyright © 1999 Arphic Technology Co., Ltd. Data is provided without warranty and may be redistributed under the Arphic Public License. The renderer uses the MIT license.