Simplified Hanzi · Component-First

Learn to Read Chinese Characters

Most characters aren't arbitrary shapes to memorize — 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.

Ten lessons cover the most common components and enough numerals to read prices, dates, and signs. Each lesson takes 15–30 minutes and includes flashcards and a short quiz.

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 closes two loops from earlier lessons; 火 doubles into 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 closes out, and the "shell/cowrie" component explains a cluster of modern money vocabulary.

Reference

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