50 Most Common Chinese Characters Every Beginner Should Know

Why These 50 Characters?

Research on Chinese character frequency shows that a relatively small number of characters appear again and again in everyday text. By learning the most common 50 characters, you will be able to recognize elements in signs, menus, messages, and simple texts — giving you an immediate sense of progress.

These characters were selected based on frequency data from modern Chinese text corpora, cross-referenced with HSK Level 1 vocabulary. Every character here appears in thousands of everyday contexts.

Characters 1-10: The Foundation

的 (de) — the most common character in Chinese, appearing in roughly 4% of all text. It is a possessive and descriptive particle: 我的书 (my book).

一 (yī) — one. Also used in many compounds: 一起 (together), 一定 (definitely).

是 (shì) — to be. The main verb for "is/am/are": 我是学生 (I am a student).

不 (bù) — not. The primary negation word: 不好 (not good), 不要 (do not want).

了 (le) — a completion marker and change-of-state particle. One of the trickiest grammar points in Chinese.

人 (rén) — person. A pictograph that looks like a person walking. Used in 大人 (adult), 人们 (people).

我 (wǒ) — I, me. The first person pronoun you will use constantly.

在 (zài) — at, in, to be located. Indicates both location and ongoing action.

有 (yǒu) — to have, there is. 我有一本书 (I have a book).

他 (tā) — he. Note: 她 (she) and 它 (it) sound identical but are written differently.

Characters 11-20: Essential Verbs

This group includes the action words you need for basic communication: 来 (lái) come, 去 (qù) go, 说 (shuō) speak, 看 (kàn) look/see, 吃 (chī) eat, 喝 (hē) drink, 想 (xiǎng) think/want, 做 (zuò) do/make, 给 (gěi) give, and 叫 (jiào) call/be called.

With just these verbs plus the first 10 characters, you can form sentences like: 我想吃 (I want to eat), 他不来 (He is not coming), 我们去看 (Let us go see).

Characters 21-30: People and Places

These characters help you talk about the world around you: 中 (zhōng) middle/China, 国 (guó) country, 大 (dà) big, 小 (xiǎo) small, 学 (xué) study, 家 (jiā) home/family, 好 (hǎo) good, 上 (shàng) up/on, 下 (xià) down/under, and 出 (chū) go out.

Many of these combine powerfully: 中国 (China), 大学 (university), 学生 (student), 上学 (go to school), 回家 (go home).

Characters 31-40: Time and Numbers

Time expressions are essential for daily life: 天 (tiān) day/sky, 年 (nián) year, 月 (yuè) month/moon, 日 (rì) day/sun, 时 (shí) time/hour, 二 (èr) two, 三 (sān) three, 十 (shí) ten, 多 (duō) many/much, and 这 (zhè) this.

Characters 41-50: Daily Life

Rounding out the essentials: 那 (nà) that, 什 (shén) what (in 什么), 么 (me) question suffix, 会 (huì) can/will, 能 (néng) can/able, 很 (hěn) very, 也 (yě) also, 就 (jiù) then/just, 要 (yào) want/need, and 还 (hái) still/also.

How to Learn These Characters

Learn in context. Rather than memorizing isolated characters, learn them as parts of words and phrases. Study 中国 (China) as a unit, not 中 and 国 separately.

Write them out. Physical writing reinforces memory. Use our Practice Sheet Generator to create custom writing sheets.

Study radicals. Most characters contain a radical that hints at the meaning. Learning radicals helps you decode unfamiliar characters.

Use spaced repetition. Review characters at increasing intervals. Our Daily Character tool introduces one new character per day for sustainable learning.

For comprehensive character lists organized by proficiency level, see our HSK Vocabulary Browser or download the free HSK word lists PDF.