The Ultimate Chinese Character Course

To understand how Chinese characters work, we need to learn the basic principles of how they were formed and how they have evolved over time. Without understanding, learning characters is frustrating and inefficient, so let's go on a journey of discovery together!

Characters Introduced in this lesson:

• 木 mù “(tree); wood”

• 口 kǒu "mouth; opening”

• 人 rén "person”

• 月 yuè "moon; month”

We will look at a number of new pictographs, some that were close to their original form, and some that aren't

Characters Introduced in this lesson:

Pictographs closely resembling their origin:

• 火 huǒ "fire"

• 山 shān "mountain"

• 门 (門) mén "door"

• Pictographs where the origin is harder to see:

  • 女 nǚ "woman"

  • 手 shǒu "hand"

  • 日 rì "sun; day"

• Pictographs with logically extended meaning:

  • 大 dà "(adult person); big"

  • 力 lì "(plough); strength; force; ability"

So far, our exploration of how Chinese characters were formed and evolved over time has focused on direct representation of objects in the form of pictographs. This method of writing things down works well for some things, but our language would be poor if we could only write things that are easy to point at, such as "fire", huǒ [火], "mountain" shān [山], and "door", mén [门/門].

In this episode, we will explore how we can add to the characters we already have to create new characters with new meanings, as well as how to represent abstract things like "up", "down" and basic numbers.

Characters Introduced in this lesson:

• Basic numbers:

  • 一 yī "one"

  • 二 èr "two"

  • 三 sān "three"

• Added strokes to form new characters:

  • Base character: 大 dà "adult person; (big)"

    • 天 tiān "sky"

  • Base character: 木 mù:

    • 末 mò "tip; end"

    • 本 běn "root; origin"

• Origin not easy to see:

  • 言 yán "words; speech"

• Added stroke to keep separate:

  • Without dot: 大 dà "adult person; big"

  • With dot: 太 tài "extremely; too"

  • Without dot: 王 wáng "king"

  • With dot: 玉 yù "jade"

Stroke order is important:

• Builds Muscle memory

• Write neatly and efficiently

• Recognise handwriting and use handwriting input

Most important stroke order rules:

• Top to bottom

• Left to right

New characters learned:

• 行 xíng "walk; go"

• 立 lì "stand"

• 文 wén "script; text"

• 目 mù "eye"

• 中 zhōng "middle"

• 水 shuǐ "water"

In this episode, we're going to look at how combining basic characters can form compound characters. Modifying basic pictographs is a great way to expand the writing system without introducing too many completely unique characters, which makes learning easier. Another powerful method that allows us to create a vast number of characters without needing to invent completely new ones is to put them together in compounds.

In this episode, we'll learn how basic characters can be combined to form semantic compounds. In these examples, the meaning of each component contributes to the meaning of the compound:

• 明 míng "bright"

  • Consisting of:

  • 日 rì "sun; day"

  • 月 yuè "moon"

• 看 kàn "look"

  • Consisting of:

  • 手 shou "hand"

  • 目 mù "eye"

• 名 míng "name"

  • Consisting of

  • 夕 xī "evening"

  • 口 kǒu "mouth"

• 好 hǎo "good"

  • Consisting of:

  • 女 nǚ "woman"

  • 子 zǐ "child"

• 男 nán "male"

  • Consisting of:

  • 田 tián "field"

  • 力 lì "(plough); strength; force"

• 里 lǐ "(dwelling); mile; in

  • Consisting of:

  • 田 tián "field"

  • 土 tǔ "earth; soil"

    • 十 shí "ten"

    • 一 yī "(one; reference line); ground"

• 有 yǒu have

  • Consisting of:

  • ? yòu "right hand"

  • 月 yuè "(meat); moon"

Combining basic characters into compounds is a powerful way of expanding vocabulary without having to come up with new, unique characters for everything. All the basic characters we have looked at so far are common components in such compounds.

In this episode, we will look at the composition of such compound characters.

Lesson Summary

So, to summarize, character composition matters. It shows you how the character is composed and what the components are, making sure that you focus on real structure and don't get distracted by imagined components. In this episode, we also encountered a few new characters:

• 间 jiān "(gap); space; room"

  • Consisting of:

  • 门/門 mén "door"

  • 日 rì "sun"

• 国 guó "country; kingdom"

  • Consisting of:

  • 囗 wéi "border; enclosure"

  • 玉 yù "jade"

  • (T) 或 huò "(area); or"

• 这 zhè "this"

  • Consisting of:

  • 辶 chuò "walking down a road"

  • 文 wén "writing; text"

  • (T) 言 yán "speech; words"

As we have seen, most Chinese characters are made up of components. In the previous episode, we looked at how these fit together, which involved some squeezing. In most cases, this squeezing just means that the component becomes narrower, shorter or both, but not always.

In this episode, we will look at characters that look different when included as components in other characters.

Characters Learned:

人 rén "person" changed to: 亻

他 tā "he; him"

亻 rén "person"

也 yě "also"

们/們 men "plural marker"

亻 rén "person"

门 mén "door"

玉 yù "jade" dropped its dot: 王

玩 wán "play"

王 (yù) wáng "(jade) king"

元 yuán "head"

脸 liǎn "face"

月 ròu "meat", which looks like yuè "moon"

佥/僉 qiān "all; together"

水 shuǐ "water" turned into three dots: 氵

没 méi "not have"

氵shuǐ "water"

殳 shū "spear-like weapon"

又 yòu "hand"

言 yán "words; speech" turned into a two-stroke version: 讠

说 shuō "speak"

兑 duì "exchange"

Some components can only be used in their shifted shape:

辶:

这 zhè

• 辶 chuò "walk down a road"

• 文 wén "writing; text"

艹:

• 草 cǎo "grass"

• 艹 cǎo "grass"

早 zǎo "early"

• 日 rì "sun"

• 十 shí "ten"

Before we look at the last major piece of the Chinese character puzzle, it's time to revisit the first type of character we looked at: the pictograph. Those we looked at earlier were all fairly simple, but there are more complex ones we need to discuss before moving on.

Lesson Summary:

Chinese characters can't be understood just by looking at their superficial modern forms. Components that look like a certain characters often didn't start out as such, as so can't explain how the character came about. These are called "empty components". We'll learn the following characters:

鱼 yú "fish"

Actually showing a fish, but looks like:

• ⺈ a hook?

• 田 tián "field"

• 一 yī "one"

• (T) 灬 huǒ "fire"

出 chū "go out"

Actually showing someone exiting a cave, but looks like:

• Two 山 shān "mountain"

高 gāo "tall; high"

Actually showing a tall tower, but looks like:

• 亠 tóu "lid"

• Two 口 kǒu "mouth"

• 冂 some kind of enclosure

美 měi "beautiful"

Actually showing a person with a hat, but looks like:

• 羊 yáng "sheep"

• 大 dà "(adult person); big"

能 néng, "be able to; energy"

Actually showing a bear, but looks like:

• 厶 sī "private"

• 月 yuè/ròu "moon/meat"

• 匕 bì "spoon"

熊 xióng "bear"

Replacement character to mean "bear", consisting of:

• 能 néng "(bear); be able to; energy"

• 灬 huǒ "fire"

The methods we have looked at so far for creating new characters have allowed us to achieve a lot, but even if we can create a few hundred such characters, this is still not enough.

In this episode, we will look at a new type of character that is much more flexible than anything we have seen previously and will allow us to create as many characters as we need.

Summary

Phono-semantic compounds:

• One part is phonetic and gives the sound

• One part is semantic and gives the meaning]

吗 ma (question particle), where :

• 口 kǒu "mouth" gives the meaning, and

• 马 mǎ "horse" gives the sound.

码 mǎ "weight; number"

• 石 shí "stone" gives the meaning, and

• 马 mǎ "horse" gives the sound.

Phono-semantic compounds like these make up a vast majority of Chinese characters.

In the previous episode, we saw that components can be included in compounds because of their pronunciation. This is true for most Chinese characters, so it's worth getting to know this type of character a little bit better.

In this episode, we will look at how phonetic components work as well as some trickier compounds.

Summary of Characters Learned:

Phonetic component: 方 fāng "direction; area; method".

房 fáng "house"

• 戶 hù "(single-leaf door); household, family" gives the meaning, and

• 方 fāng gives the sound

放 fàng "to put; to place"

• 攴 pū "strike" gives the meaning, and

• 方 fāng gives both sound and meaning

旁 páng "beside; side"

The top part looks like 立 lì "stand", and

方 fāng gives the sound

Phonetic component: 青 qīng "green; blue"

清 qīng "clear"

• 氵shuǐ "water" gives the meaning, and

• 青 qīng gives the sound

请 qǐng "invite; request"

• 讠 yán "words; speech" gives the meaning, and

• 青 qīng gives the sound

情 qíng "emotion"

• 忄xīn "heart", hints at the meaning

(A squeezed variant of 心 xīn "heart)

• 青 qīng hints at the sound

睛 jīng "eye"

• 目 mù "eye" hints at the meaning,

• 青 qīng hints at the sound

As we have seen in the previous two episodes, phono-semantic characters are both very common and very important. We have so far learned three phonetic components and some common characters they appear in.

In this episode, we are going to learn two more, with which we will be able to learn many more characters!

Summary of Characters Learned

With phonetic gěn [艮], "looking back":

很 hěn "(linking nouns and adjectives); quite; very"

• 彳 chì "(walk); go; move" indicates meaning

• 艮 gěn "looking back" indicates sound

跟 gēn "heel; to follow; with"

• 足 zú "(heel); foot" indicates meaning

• 艮 gěn "looking back" indicates sound

根 gēn "root; basis"

• 木 mù "(tree); wood", indicates meaning

• 艮 gěn "looking back" indicates sound

眼 yǎn "eye"

目 mù "eye" indicates meaning"

艮 gěn "looking back" indicates sound

银 yín "silver"

• 金 jīn "metal; godl" indicates meaning

• 艮 gěn "looking back" indicates sound

Extra character: 她 tā "she"

• 女 nǚ "woman"

• 也 yě "also"

With phonetic gōng [工], "(tool); work":

红/紅 hóng "red"

• 纟/糹 mì "(variant) silk" indicates meaning

• 丝/絲 sī "silk"

• 工 gōng "(tool); work" indicates sound

江 jiāng "river"

• 氵shuǐ "(variant); water"

• 工 gōng "(tool); work" indicates sound

空 kōng; "empty; air" kòng: "vacant; leisure"

• 穴 xùe "cave" indicates meaning:

• 宀 mían "building" is an empty component

  八 bā "eight" is also an empty component

• 工 gōng "(tool); work" indicates sound

  
  

  
  

功 gōng "result; achievement"

• 力 lì "(plough); strength; force" indicates meaning

• 工 gōng "(tool); work" indicates both sound and meaning

Chinese characters have existed for thousands of years and they have undergone a lot of change during that time. Many of these changes can appear strange and result in characters that seem to make little sense. The goal with this course is to help you make as much sense of Chinese characters as possible, but sometimes, this is hard.

In this episode, we're going to discuss the chaotic nature of Chinese characters and how to deal with it as a student.

Characters Taught: 我、和、你、是

In the previous episode, we looked at a few tricky cases, just to make sure that what we have learned isn't applicable only to cherry-picked examples.

In this episode, we will continue that endeavor, learning a few more characters and reviewing important principles along the way.

Characters and Components Taught:

不木的白日勺生那(阝) 个(竹)個(固(古十口)) 囗了子 来/來

This course is about Chinese characters. However, written Chinese is about more than single characters, as most words consist of two characters and sentences can contain many words.

In this episode, we're going to look at how words are formed and how they relate to the characters we have learned so far in the course.

Summary:

In this episode, we have looked at how characters can be combined to form words. Since there's no spacing between words in Chinese, identifying the boundary between words can be hard for beginners. We also learnt that just because a character has a basic meaning, that meaning is often expressed differently in modern Chinese, so while mù [目] means "eye", the most common way to say "eye" is actually yǎnjing [眼睛]. Apart from that, we also learnt the following new characters:

在 zài in; at

• 才 cái (sharpened stick); ability

• 土 tǔ earth; soil meaning

前 qián front; before 刀 dāo knife semantic

月 yuè moon empty

Chinese characters can look different depending on context. They're still the same characters at heart, but it's as if they were wearing different clothes. We have already seen some examples of this with characters that get squeezed into different shapes inside compound characters, but in this episode, we will look at variant forms of entire characters, including simplified and traditional Chinese.

Learn about:

* Font differences

* Traditional vs Simplified Chinese