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Chinese Characters:
A Step By Step Guide

James Garrison
Zhuang Xinhong
Senior Editor: Chi-ping Li
Contributing Editor: Quan Jiahong

Mushroom Press
 copyrighted material

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
5

CHINESE RADICALS
7

STROKE ORDER
11

CHARACTERS - SECTION 1
13

CHARACTERS - SECTION 2
55

CHINESE GRAMMAR
210

MEASURE WORDS
215

TRANSLITERATIONS
219

PINYIN INDEX
220

ENGLISH INDEX
234

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稳扎稳打 Chinese Characters: A Step By Step Guide

wǔ - five copyrighted material

radical 7

目前我有五门课。
Mùqián wǒ yǒu wǔ mén kè.
I currently have five classes.

bàn - manage; handle; do; purchase; order radical 19

我们没有办法解决你的问题。
Wǒmen méiyǒu bànfǎ jiějué nǐ de wèntí.
We have no way to handle your problem.

qū - distinguish; area, region radical 23

不能区分颜色的人被叫做色盲。
Bùnéng qūfēn yánsè de rén bèi jiàozuò sèmáng.
People who cannot distinguish between colors are said to be colorblind.

rì -daily; sun radical 72

我读你的日记了，但是你的日记很无聊。
Wǒ dú nǐ de rìjì le, dànshì nǐ de rìjì hěn wúliáo.
I read your diary, but it was boring.

wén - language; literature radical 67

中国文化历史悠久。
Zhōngguó wénhuà lìshǐ yōujiǔ.
Chinese culture has a long history.

xīn - heart radical 61

为什么你总是没有耐心?
Wèishénme nǐ zǒngshì méiyǒu nàixīn?
Why do you always lack patience?

bǐ - (used for the) comparative; contrast radical 81

你比我高。
Nǐ bǐ wǒ gāo.
You are taller than me.

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shì - clan; mister copyrighted

radical 83 material
这是一个古老的姓氏，已很少再用了。
Zhè shì yīge gǔlǎo de xìngshì, yǐ hěnshǎo zài yòng le.
This is an old surname, it’s seldom used any more.

yì - memory; remember; reflect on radical 61

妈妈因年老而记忆模糊。
Māma yīn niánlǎo ér jìyì móhu.
Age has clouded mom’s memory.

zhá - struggle; penetrating (stare, etc) zhā - prick (with needle, etc)
zā - tie, bind radical 64

他挣扎着站起来。
Tā zhēngzhá zhe zhànqǐlái.
He struggled to stand up.

zhǐ - stop radical 77

这家商店已经停止营业了。
Zhè jiā shāngdiàn yǐjīng tíngzhǐ yíngyè le.
This store has gone out of business.

yǐn - attract; pull; stretch radical 57

我被他深深地吸引住了。
Wǒ bèi tā shēnshēn de xīyǐn zhù le.
I am deeply attracted to him.

yì - skill; art radical 141

他们雇了一位艺术家画壁画。
Tāmen gù le yī wèi yìshùjiā huà bì huà.
They hired an artist to paint the mural.

jì - count; calculate; plan radical 150

帮我计算一下那些杂志的价钱。
Bāng wǒ jìsuàn yīxià nàxiē zázhì de jiàqian.
Help me count those magazines.

rèn - recognize; know; understand radical 150

你认为今天会再下雨吗？
Nǐ rènwéi jīntiān huì zài xiàyǔ ma?
Do you think it’s going to rain again today?

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稳扎稳打 Chinese Characters: A Step By Step Guide
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Chinese Grammar
Chinese grammar is relatively straightforward in many ways. Chinese verbs do not change according to
tense, and Chinese nouns have the same form whether singular or plural. Numbers, context and words
like “this” (这个 zhège) or “these” (这些 zhèxiē) - are used to indicate singular or plural.

Many English adjectives are stative verbs in Chinese. Thus, 高 gāo isn’t simply “tall”, it is “the act of
being tall”, 胖 pàng is “the act of being fat”, etc. When we use stative verbs, a linking verb is often
omitted from the sentence, especially in casual conversation. Look at the three examples below:

日本菜怎么样? 我饿了。 你真的很聪明!

Rìběn cài zěnmeyàng? Wǒ è le. Nǐ zhēnde hěn cōngming!
How is Japanese food? I’m hungry. You are really smart!

Below and on the next few pages are more explanations of Chinese grammar and structure points.

吗 ma - final interrogative particle

吗 is used at the end of sentences to form a question. It usually forms a question which requires a “yes”
or “no” response.

你吃饭了吗? 明白了吗? 饱了吗?

Nǐ chīfàn le ma? Míngbai le ma? Bǎo le ma?
Did you eat? Did you understand? Are you full?

In the 2nd and 3rd sentences above, notice that there is no subject noun or pronoun. When the subject is
understood it is frequently omitted, especially in spoken Chinese.

们 mén - plural
们 is used to make the plural, usually for pronouns. The pronouns below are the most commonly used
in Chinese. Object and subject pronouns are the same - for example, “he” and “him” - and third person
pronouns all have the same pronunciation but are written differently.

我 wǒ - I, me
我们 wǒmen - we, us
咱们 zánmen - we (includes the speaker)
你 nǐ - you (singular)
你们 nǐmen - you (plural)
您 nín - you (polite form)
您们 nínmen - you (plural of the polite form)
她 tā - she, her
他 tā - he, him
它 tā - it
她们 tāmen - they, them (women)
他们 tāmen - they, them (men, men and women)
它们 tāmen - they, them (objects)

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稳扎稳打 Chinese Characters: A Step By Step Guide
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English to Chinese
¼ year 116 accuse 172 again 13
½ kilometer 33 accuse falsely 197 again 23
1/3 of a meter 65 accustomed to 172 age 83
100 million 57 achieve 91 age 198
15 minutes 111 achievement 69 agitate 201
500 grams 66 achievement 177 ago 40
a little 55 acquaintance 119 agree 70
abandon 100 act 29 agreeable to 15
abandon 127 act 49 agriculture 23
abandon 176 act 199 aid 170
abandon 189 act as 15 aid 183
able 23 act as 24 air 17
able 90 action 22 alcohol 155
able to 21 actor 107 alert 208
able to 47 add 69 alike 82
abolish 117 add to 202 alive 42
absolute 44 address 159 all 47
absurd 146 adequate 24 all 142
abundant 60 adequate 169 all 164
abundant 175 adjacent 109 all along 82
abundant 179 adjacent to 130 all over 188
abundant 179 administer 176 alley 96
abundant 180 admire 189 alley 145
abundant 208 admire 200 allow 79
accept 35 admit 106 allow 91
accept 50 admit 119 allow 151
accept 106 advance 106 allow 153
accidentally 167 advanced level 48 allowance 148
accompany 165 advantage 29 almost 56
according to 50 advise 62 alone 111
according to 57 affair 21 alone 117
estimates
affair 34 alone 137
according to 191 affected by 50 along 149
accounting 23 affection 45 already 14
accumulate 160 afficionado 148 already 47
accumulate 177 after 135 already 137
accurate 151 after all 105 also 13