100 Most Frequently Chinese Characters

——-Learn Chinese Characters

Chinese CharactersHow many  Chinese characters (汉字 – hàn zì) do you know? Do you know 100 frenquently Chinese Chinese characters? According to research, if you are familiar with the 500 most frequently characters in Chinese then you can read 75% of modern Chinese. If you know 1000 frequently characters, you can read 89%. 2000 frequently characters gives you 97% coverage. 3000 frequently Chinese characters gives you almost complete coverage of modern Chinese (99%); When you are reading Chinese you will find that the same characters appear again and again and gradually become more familiar. 3000 characters should be more than sufficient for most learners.

Here are the 100 most frequently used Chinese characters, let’s try and learn right away.  If you can master these characters, you’ll be well on your way to becoming fluent in Chinese.

 de  grammatical particle, of
one, a little
shì to be
not
le verb particle marking a new situation or a completed action
rén person
I, me, my
zài at, located at
yǒu have, there is
he, him,
zhè this
zhōng in the middle of
big
lái come
shàng above, on, over, top, (go) up, last
guó country, state, nation,
measure word
dào to, towards, until, arrive, reach
shuō  speak, say (=说话 shuōhuà)
men (ex. 我们 | wǒmen | we)
wèi for, for the sake of, in order to
child, son
and, together, with
you, your
earth, ground, soil, place, position, distance
chū go out, come out, in direction out from something
dào way, path, channel, way, say, a streak (of light), doctrine,
also, as well
shí period, season
nián year
de (ex. 走得快 | zǒude kuài | walk quickly)
jiù just, simply, right away 就要 jiùyào about to (do something)
that
yào want, will, shall, need, important, essential
xià below, under, (go) down, next (as opposed to previous/last)
use, take, according to, because of, in order to
shēng give birth, life
huì can, able, meet, meeting, society, union, party
from, since
zhe verb particle marking a continuing progress/state
go, leave, depart
zhī subordinator similar to 的 de
guò pass, cross, go by, exceed,
jiā home, house, family
xué study, learn
duì correct, answer, treat, agree, mutual, pair
~able, (=可以 kěyǐ) may, can
she, her
neighbourhood, half kilometer,
hòu behind, back
xiǎo small
me (interrogative suffix) 什么? shénme? / What?
xīn heart
duō many, much, more
tiān sky, heaven, day
ér and, furthermore
néng can, be able
hǎo good, good to…, easy to…
dōu all
rán right, correct, so, like that
méi (=没有 méiyǒu) haven’t, there isn’t
sun
in, at, for, to, from, by, than
rise, start
hái still, yet
deliver, utter, express, shoot, emit, develop, expand
chéng (=成为 chéngwéi) become, ; 成功 chénggōng succeed; 完成 wánchéng accomplish, complete,
shì matter, affair, thing, event, accident, job, responsibility
zhǐ only, just, merely
zuò do, make
dāng serve as
xiǎng think, feel, consider, want, remember
kàn see, look at, think
wén language, literature
without, nothingness, have not
kāi open
shǒu hand, a person skilled in something
shí ten
yòng use
zhǔ lord, master, host, god,
xíng go, OK
fāng side, square
yòu again, both… and…
like, as, as if
qián in front, previous, ago, former, first
suǒ place
běn basis, origin, edition classifier for books, periodicals, files, etc.
jiàn appear to be, meet with, call on
jīng longitude (both geographic and in Chinese medecin), scripture, constant, regular, , deal with
tóu head, top, first
miàn face, surface,
gōng public, official
tóng same, with
sān three
already
lǎo old, venerable, outdated
cóng from, through, join, follower, secondary
dòng move, change, arouse
liǎng two (before classifier), 50 grams
cháng long, lasting, length