Basics
Chinese from the start
Learn to read pinyin, hear every letter, and read short guides to how Chinese works.
131Letters to learn
4Charts
33Guides
Radicals
Most characters are built from smaller parts. One part, the radical, hints at the meaning: characters with 氵 have to do with water, those with 口 with the mouth. Another often hints at the sound. Knowing the thirty commonest parts makes new characters easier to tell apart and remember.
Read the guide: How characters are builtReview these lettersSign up to learn them with spaced repetition, as you do words.
Tap a letter to hear it and see how it's written.
Common radicals (部首)
30 lettersEach radical with its meaning and the name Chinese speakers use for it. On the left or on top, many take a narrower form: 水 water becomes 氵.