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100 Essential Chinese Words for Beginners

Start with what you would say on an ordinary day: 你好 (hello), 谢谢 (thank you), 水 (water) and 吃 (to eat). Below are 100 beginner words in 9 groups — greetings & basics, people & family, everyday verbs, describing words, colors, numbers, time, food & drink and home — each with its English meaning and its pronunciation in Latin letters.

Key takeaways

  • Chinese is written in Chinese characters, so every word below has its pronunciation beside it in Latin letters. For example, 你好 is read “nǐ hǎo”.
  • You can already count to three: 一 (one), 二 (two) and 三 (three).
  • The longest word here is 对不起 (sorry).
The Great Wall of China winding over the hills
Photo: realsmarthome

Greetings & basics

16 words
EnglishChinesePronunciationType
hello你好nǐ hǎointerjection
goodbye再见zài jiàninterjection
yes是shìinterjection
no不bùinterjection
please请qǐnginterjection
thank you谢谢xiè xièinterjection
sorry对不起duì bù qǐinterjection
and和héconjunction
but但dànconjunction
or或者huò zhěconjunction
because因为yīn wèiconjunction
here这里zhè lǐadverb
there那里nà lǐadverb
always总是zǒng shìadverb
never从不cóng bùadverb
together一起yī qǐadverb

People & family

14 words
EnglishChinesePronunciationType
man男人nán rénnoun
woman女人nǚ rénnoun
boy男孩nán háinoun
girl女孩nǚ háinoun
friend朋友péng yǒunoun
mother母亲mǔ qīnnoun
father父亲fù qīnnoun
brother哥哥gē gēnoun
sister妹妹mèi mèinoun
son儿子ér zinoun
daughter女儿nǚ érnoun
child孩子hái zinoun
husband丈夫zhàng fūnoun
wife妻子qī zǐnoun

Everyday verbs

16 words
EnglishChinesePronunciationType
to have有yǒuverb
to do做zuòverb
to go去qùverb
to come来láiverb
to eat吃chīverb
to drink喝hēverb
to want想要xiǎng yàoverb
to need需要xū yàoverb
to know知道zhī dàoverb
to speak讲jiǎngverb
to read读dúverb
to write写xiěverb
to listen听tīngverb
to work工作gōng zuòverb
to buy买mǎiverb
to pay支付zhī fùverb

Describing words

10 words
EnglishChinesePronunciationType
good好hǎoadjective
bad坏huàiadjective
new新的xīn deadjective
old老的lǎo deadjective
young年轻nián qīngadjective
tall高gāoadjective
short矮ǎiadjective
nice和善hé shànadjective
kind善良shàn liángadjective
shy害羞hài xiūadjective

Colors

8 words
EnglishChinesePronunciationType
red红hóngadjective
blue蓝lánadjective
green绿lǜadjective
yellow黄huángadjective
black黑hēiadjective
white白báiadjective
orange橙色chéng sèadjective
purple紫zǐadjective

Numbers

12 words
EnglishChinesePronunciationType
one一yīnumber
two二èrnumber
three三sānnumber
four四sìnumber
five五wǔnumber
six六liùnumber
seven七qīnumber
eight八bānumber
nine九jiǔnumber
ten十shínumber
zero零língnumber
twenty二十èr shínumber

Time

10 words
EnglishChinesePronunciationType
today今天jīn tiānadverb
tomorrow明天míng tiānadverb
yesterday昨天zuó tiānadverb
morning早晨zǎo chénnoun
afternoon下午xià wǔnoun
evening傍晚bàng wǎnnoun
night晚上wǎn shàngnoun
day天tiānnoun
week周zhōunoun
month月yuènoun

Food & drink

10 words
EnglishChinesePronunciationType
water水shuǐnoun
coffee咖啡kā fēinoun
tea茶chánoun
milk牛奶niú nǎinoun
bread面包miàn bāonoun
cheese奶酪nǎi làonoun
fruit水果shuǐ guǒnoun
apple苹果píng guǒnoun
egg蛋dànnoun
rice米mǐnoun

Home

4 words
EnglishChinesePronunciationType
house房子fáng zinoun
door门ménnoun
window窗户chuāng hùnoun
bed床chuángnoun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Learn these Chinese words for good

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

A list is where learning starts, not where it ends. Watch Your Language puts Chinese words like these on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, so you see a few every time you check the time, and it schedules the repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

You can add your own words too, from a photo, a page of notes or a spreadsheet.

Download on the App Store

Keep going with Chinese

Chinese vocabulary by topicLonger word lists, one topic at a time Chinese quizTest yourself on what you have learned Chinese vocabulary testFind your level How long does Chinese take to learn?A realistic plan

Chinese for beginners questions

What are the first Chinese words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For Chinese that means words like 你好 (hello), 谢谢 (thank you), 水 (water) and 吃 (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

Do I need to learn the Chinese script before these words?

You can start without it: Chinese is written in Chinese characters, and every word here has a pronunciation in Latin letters beside it so you can sound it out. Learning the script soon after is still worth it, because real signs, menus and messages are not romanised. Treat the Latin-letter pronunciation as a guide to the sound, and listen to the language as well.

Is 100 words enough to speak Chinese?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these Chinese words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.

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