Simplified Hanzi · Component-First

Learn to Read Chinese Characters

Most characters aren't arbitrary shapes to memorise — they're 2–4 known pieces stacked together, often with a meaning clue built in. This course teaches those pieces first, so each new character you meet is mostly already familiar.

Lessons

• Lesson 1 人 木 水 口 日 Building Blocks: Your First Five Components Pictographs that appear inside hundreds of other characters — and two that change shape when they move inside a compound.
• Lesson 2 女 子 Woman and Child: 女 / 子 Two high-frequency components, plus why 子 often means nothing at all as a suffix.
• Lesson 3 大 小 中 Big, Small, Middle: 大 / 小 / 中 Exactly what's printed on every drink, snack, and clothing size — you'll be able to test these immediately.
• Lesson 4 上 下 出 入 Up, Down, Out, In: 上 / 下 / 出 / 入 Indicative characters — diagrams of a relationship rather than pictures of a thing — and the exit/entrance signs you'll use everywhere.
• Lesson 5 一 二 三 十 Counting to Ten (Almost): 一 / 二 / 三 / 十 Three are tally marks. The fourth, 十, lets you read every number from 10 to 99 without learning anything new.
• Lesson 6 四 五 六 七 八 九 Counting to Ten, Completed: 四 / 五 / 六 / 七 / 八 / 九 The remaining six digits — none follow the tally pattern, and one has a documented reason for breaking it.
• Lesson 7 山 火 土 Mountain, Fire, Earth: 山 / 火 / 土 Four of the five classical elements are now complete. 山 answers the question Lesson 4 raised about 出, and 火 doubled becomes 炎, a blaze.
• Lesson 8 月 天 年 Moon, Sky, Year: 月 / 天 / 年 With all digits in hand, three more characters let you read and write complete dates in Chinese.
• Lesson 9 百 千 Hundred, Thousand: 百 / 千 Two characters that take you into the numbers you actually need for prices, hotel rates, and train tickets.
• Lesson 10 金 贝 Metal, Shell: Money Vocabulary — 金 / 贝 The fifth classical element completes the set, and the "shell/cowrie" component explains a cluster of modern money vocabulary.
• Lesson 11 手 心 Hand, Heart: 手 / 心 Two of the script's most productive semantic components, covering physical action and emotion — plus their contracted left-side forms.
• Lesson 12 言 讠 Speech: 言 / 讠 One of the script's most productive semantic components, built on 口 — sits inside almost every character about talking, asking, and naming.
• Lesson 13 门 囗 Door, Enclosure: 门 / 囗 The first two components that wrap around their partner instead of sitting beside it — behind 我们/你们/他们, 请问, 中间, 中国, 回国, and 公园.
• Lesson 14 厂 广 宀 Roof, Cliff, Shelter: 宀 / 厂 / 广 A scale of "how much building is there" from bare cliff to full roof — behind 店 (shop), 厅 (hall), 家 (home), 安 (peace), and 字, the character for "character" itself.
• Lesson 15 车 Vehicle: 车 An aerial-view chariot pictograph — the piece behind 库 (warehouse), 站 (station), and the transit word 车站.
• Lesson 16 食 米 Food, Rice: 食 / 米 A mouth over a bowl of rice, plus the rice grain itself — the components behind 饭, 饮, 粉, and the menu staple 米饭, all in one lesson.
• Lesson 17 艹 竹 禾 Grass, Bamboo, Grain: 艹 / 竹 / 禾 A plant-family trio behind 茶 (tea), 花 (flower), 笔 (pen), and 和 (harmony; "and") — plus fully-readable 花店 and 竹子.
• Lesson 18 目 耳 足 Eye, Ear, Foot: 目 / 耳 / 足 A second body-part trio behind 看 (to look), 眼 (eye), 跑 (to run), 路 (road), and 闻 (to hear) — plus a deliberate trap: 听 ("to hear") that doesn't actually contain 耳.
• Lesson 19 力 又 刀 Strength, Hand, Blade: 力 / 又 / 刀 Three two-stroke pictographs behind 加 (to add), 取 (to take), 分 (to divide), and 双 (a pair) — plus 又's forgotten "hand" meaning, still alive inside two of them.
• Lesson 20 东 西 南 北 Directions: 东 / 西 / 南 / 北 The four compass points, behind 东西 (things, stuff — not "east and west"), 南北 (north and south), and the 东门/西门/南门/北门 gate-naming pattern — plus a folk etymology for 東 debunked outright.
• Lesson 21 雨 风 气 Weather: 雨 / 风 / 气 Rain, wind, and air/energy — behind 下雨 (to rain), 大风 (strong wind), and 天气 (weather) — plus the phoenix hiding inside 风/風.
• Lesson 22 止 走 辶 Movement: 止 / 走 / 辶 One footprint, three descendants — behind 走路 (to walk), 边 (side) and 请进 (please come in), plus the 辶 wrapper that carries 这, 过, 道 and 进.
• Lesson 23 马 鸟 隹 鱼 Animals: 马 / 鸟 / 隹 / 鱼 Three animals you can still see in the glyph, and one that drifted — behind 妈 (mother), 吗 (question particle), 鸡 (chicken), 集 (to gather) and the 推 (to push) on the near side of the door.
• Lesson 24 牛 羊 虫 肉 Livestock and Insects: 牛 / 羊 / 虫 / 肉 The ox whose shoulder blade carried the first Chinese writing, plus sheep, insects, and meat itself — behind 半 (half), 美 (beautiful), 虾 (shrimp), 牛肉 (beef) and 羊肉 (lamb).

Reference

Component Glossary — every component, compound character, and word taught across all lessons, in one searchable table.

Acknowledgements

Stroke order diagrams and animations are sourced from Make Me a Hanzi.