The 10 easiest Chinese characters to learn first

The best way to start Chinese is not with grammar or tones, but with a handful of characters that are still tiny pictures of the world. Once you see the drawing inside them, you cannot forget them. Here are ten to begin with.

Nature you can see

• 日 (rì) — the sun. Once a circle with a dot; it also means "day".
• 月 (yuè) — the moon, drawn as a crescent; also "month".
• 山 (shān) — a mountain, three peaks you can still see.
• 水 (shuǐ) — water, a river flowing between its banks.
• 木 (mù) — a tree, with trunk, branches and roots.

People and ideas

• 人 (rén) — a person in profile.
• 大 (dà) — big: a person stretching their arms wide.
• 口 (kǒu) — a mouth, an open oval.
• 一 (yī) — one, a single stroke. With 一 to 十 you can count to 99.
• 中 (zhōng) — the middle; 中国 means China, the "Middle Kingdom".

Notice how they combine: two trees (木木) make 林, "woods"; sun and moon together (日月) make 明, "bright". That is the real magic of Chinese — small pictures joining into bigger meanings.

Learn each of these with its 3,000-year-old story, its Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciation, and a quick memory check on BeginChinese — free, no account.