There are tens of thousands of Chinese characters, but to speak fluent Chinese, you only need to learn several thousand of these. To get you started, this presentation shows you the 3 most common characters which is a great place to start in your Chinese language learning journey.

1. The 3 Most
Common Chinese
Characters
By Think Chinese

2. 1. 的
[de]
• A grammatical particle
• Often used in 我的 [wǒde] meaning ‘my’ and
是的 [shìde] ‘that’s it’ or ‘that’s right’

3. 2. 一
[yì] meaning ‘One’
• Used in phrases such as 一些 [yìxiē] meaning
‘some’ and 一点儿 [yìdiǎnr] meaning ‘a little’
• Also used just as ‘one’ eg. 一个人 [yí gè rén]
meaning ‘one person’.

4. 3. 是
[shì] meaning ‘to be’ or ‘is’
• Example of use is in the Chinese question ‘is
it or isn’t it?’ written 是不是? [shìbushì?]

5. Want to Learn More?
• Go to www.ThinkChinese.co.uk/blog to learn
more of the common Chinese characters
• Or find out about our Chinese Lessons in
London available through the
ThinkChinese.co.uk website