Basic Chinese Words: The First 100 to Learn

Below are 100 basic Chinese words to learn first, in Traditional characters with pinyin, Zhuyin and English, grouped by what you use them for: people, questions, everyday verbs, time, places, food, money and politeness. Every word comes from the beginner lists of the TOCFL (the Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language, Taiwan’s official test, run by SC-TOP under the Ministry of Education), either the separate Novice list or the Band A Level 1 (A1) list. The pinyin and Zhuyin follow the Ministry of Education dictionary, so the readings are the Taiwan standard.

This is a starter set, and it will not make you conversational by itself. It gives you the words that carry beginner sentences, such as 我想買水 (wǒ xiǎng mǎi shuǐ, “I want to buy water”) and 這個多少錢？ (zhège duōshǎo qián?, “How much is this?”). For the full official lists, see TOCFL vocabulary and the A1 word-list PDF. For ready-made sentences, see Basic Mandarin Phrases You’ll Use in Taiwan.

How the 100 were chosen

The words were chosen for the first weeks of any course and for daily life in Taiwan, and each one comes from the TOCFL Novice or A1 list. Where Taiwan and mainland usage differ, the Taiwan word is used: 公車 (bus), 計程車 (taxi), 洗手間 (restroom) and 小吃 (small dishes, street snacks). 捷運 (jiéyùn, the metro systems of Taiwan’s big cities) comes a level later, in Band A Level 2.

Two reading notes. First, neutral tones are shown as they appear in the dictionary: 媽媽 is māma and 我們 is wǒmen. Second, a few words have colloquial forms in Taiwan that the dictionary treats as variants: 這 is zhè in the dictionary and often zhèi in speech, and 那 is nà and often nèi. The same two forms come up in Chinese Filler Words.

People and pronouns

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
我	wǒ	ㄨㄛˇ	I, me
你	nǐ	ㄋㄧˇ	you
他	tā	ㄊㄚ	he, him
她	tā	ㄊㄚ	she, her
我們	wǒmen	ㄨㄛˇ ˙ㄇㄣ	we, us
你們	nǐmen	ㄋㄧˇ ˙ㄇㄣ	you (plural)
誰	shéi	ㄕㄟˊ	who
朋友	péngyǒu	ㄆㄥˊ ㄧㄡˇ	friend
老師	lǎoshī	ㄌㄠˇ ㄕ	teacher
學生	xuéshēng	ㄒㄩㄝˊ ㄕㄥ	student
先生	xiānshēng	ㄒㄧㄢ ㄕㄥ	Mr., sir, husband
小姐	xiǎojiě	ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄐㄧㄝˇ	Miss, young woman

Family

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
媽媽	māma	ㄇㄚ ˙ㄇㄚ	mom, mother
爸爸	bàba	ㄅㄚˋ ˙ㄅㄚ	dad, father
哥哥	gēge	ㄍㄜ ˙ㄍㄜ	older brother
姊姊	jiějie	ㄐㄧㄝˇ ˙ㄐㄧㄝ	older sister (also written 姐姐)
弟弟	dìdi	ㄉㄧˋ ˙ㄉㄧ	younger brother
妹妹	mèimei	ㄇㄟˋ ˙ㄇㄟ	younger sister

Question words and pointers

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
什麼	shénme	ㄕㄣˊ ˙ㄇㄜ	what
哪裡	nǎlǐ	ㄋㄚˇ ㄌㄧˇ	where
為什麼	wèishénme	ㄨㄟˋ ㄕㄣˊ ˙ㄇㄜ	why
怎麼	zěnme	ㄗㄣˇ ˙ㄇㄜ	how
幾	jǐ	ㄐㄧˇ	how many (small numbers)
多少	duōshǎo	ㄉㄨㄛ ㄕㄠˇ	how much, how many
嗎	ma	˙ㄇㄚ	question particle for yes/no
這	zhè	ㄓㄜˋ	this
那	nà	ㄋㄚˋ	that

Common verbs

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
是	shì	ㄕˋ	to be
有	yǒu	ㄧㄡˇ	to have, there is
沒有	méiyǒu	ㄇㄟˊ ㄧㄡˇ	do not have, there is not
要	yào	ㄧㄠˋ	to want, will
想	xiǎng	ㄒㄧㄤˇ	to want to, to think, to miss
去	qù	ㄑㄩˋ	to go
來	lái	ㄌㄞˊ	to come
吃	chī	ㄔ	to eat
喝	hē	ㄏㄜ	to drink
看	kàn	ㄎㄢˋ	to look, to watch, to read
聽	tīng	ㄊㄧㄥ	to listen, to hear
說	shuō	ㄕㄨㄛ	to speak, to say
買	mǎi	ㄇㄞˇ	to buy
給	gěi	ㄍㄟˇ	to give
知道	zhīdào	ㄓ ㄉㄠˋ	to know (a fact)
喜歡	xǐhuān	ㄒㄧˇ ㄏㄨㄢ	to like
學	xué	ㄒㄩㄝˊ	to learn
住	zhù	ㄓㄨˋ	to live, to stay

Describing words

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
好	hǎo	ㄏㄠˇ	good
大	dà	ㄉㄚˋ	big
小	xiǎo	ㄒㄧㄠˇ	small
多	duō	ㄉㄨㄛ	many, much
少	shǎo	ㄕㄠˇ	few, little
貴	guì	ㄍㄨㄟˋ	expensive
便宜	piányi	ㄆㄧㄢˊ ˙ㄧ	cheap
快	kuài	ㄎㄨㄞˋ	fast
慢	màn	ㄇㄢˋ	slow
累	lèi	ㄌㄟˋ	tired

Time

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
今天	jīntiān	ㄐㄧㄣ ㄊㄧㄢ	today
明天	míngtiān	ㄇㄧㄥˊ ㄊㄧㄢ	tomorrow
昨天	zuótiān	ㄗㄨㄛˊ ㄊㄧㄢ	yesterday
現在	xiànzài	ㄒㄧㄢˋ ㄗㄞˋ	now
早上	zǎoshang	ㄗㄠˇ ˙ㄕㄤ	morning
晚上	wǎnshang	ㄨㄢˇ ˙ㄕㄤ	evening, night
時候	shíhòu	ㄕˊ ㄏㄡˋ	time, moment
年	nián	ㄋㄧㄢˊ	year
月	yuè	ㄩㄝˋ	month
星期	xīngqí	ㄒㄧㄥ ㄑㄧˊ	week, weekday

Places and getting around

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
家	jiā	ㄐㄧㄚ	home, family
學校	xuéxiào	ㄒㄩㄝˊ ㄒㄧㄠˋ	school
公司	gōngsī	ㄍㄨㄥ ㄙ	company, workplace
洗手間	xǐshǒujiān	ㄒㄧˇ ㄕㄡˇ ㄐㄧㄢ	restroom
車站	chēzhàn	ㄔㄜ ㄓㄢˋ	station, stop
公車	gōngchē	ㄍㄨㄥ ㄔㄜ	bus
火車	huǒchē	ㄏㄨㄛˇ ㄔㄜ	train
計程車	jìchéngchē	ㄐㄧˋ ㄔㄥˊ ㄔㄜ	taxi
路	lù	ㄌㄨˋ	road
機場	jīcháng	ㄐㄧ ㄔㄤˊ	airport

Food and drink

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
水	shuǐ	ㄕㄨㄟˇ	water
茶	chá	ㄔㄚˊ	tea
咖啡	kāfēi	ㄎㄚ ㄈㄟ	coffee
飯	fàn	ㄈㄢˋ	rice, meal
麵	miàn	ㄇㄧㄢˋ	noodles
肉	ròu	ㄖㄡˋ	meat
菜	cài	ㄘㄞˋ	vegetables, dish
水果	shuǐguǒ	ㄕㄨㄟˇ ㄍㄨㄛˇ	fruit
牛奶	niúnǎi	ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄋㄞˇ	milk
小吃	xiǎochī	ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄔ	snacks, street food

Money and shopping

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
錢	qián	ㄑㄧㄢˊ	money
塊	kuài	ㄎㄨㄞˋ	dollar (spoken)
元	yuán	ㄩㄢˊ	dollar (written)
店	diàn	ㄉㄧㄢˋ	shop
票	piào	ㄆㄧㄠˋ	ticket

Politeness, yes and no

Word	Pinyin	Zhuyin	English
謝謝	xièxie	ㄒㄧㄝˋ ˙ㄒㄧㄝ	thank you
對不起	duìbuqǐ	ㄉㄨㄟˋ ˙ㄅㄨ ㄑㄧˇ	sorry
請問	qǐngwèn	ㄑㄧㄥˇ ㄨㄣˋ	excuse me, may I ask
不好意思	bù hǎo yìsi	ㄅㄨˋ ㄏㄠˇ ㄧˋ ˙ㄙ	sorry, excuse me
麻煩	máfan	ㄇㄚˊ ˙ㄈㄢ	to trouble, troublesome
沒關係	méiguānxi	ㄇㄟˊ ㄍㄨㄢ ˙ㄒㄧ	it does not matter
再見	zàijiàn	ㄗㄞˋ ㄐㄧㄢˋ	goodbye
不客氣	bú kèqì	ㄅㄨˊ ㄎㄜˋ ㄑㄧˋ	you are welcome
對	duì	ㄉㄨㄟˋ	correct, right
不	bù	ㄅㄨˋ	not, no

Notes on tricky entries

他 and 她 sound the same (tā), and 他 is the general form in writing when gender does not matter.

姊姊 is the form in Taiwan’s TOCFL list and school textbooks, and 姐姐 is an equally common everyday spelling. Both are read jiějie. The dictionary’s entry for the single character 姊 gives both zǐ and jiě, and jiě is the reading used for the word. The family words for relatives, including cousins and in-laws, are explained in Chinese Family Terms.

幾 and 多少 both ask “how many”. 幾 usually goes with a small number (幾個人, “how many people”), and 多少 is open-ended and is what you use for prices.

塊 and 元 are both “dollar”. 塊 is the spoken form and 元 the written one. Money in Chinese explains the difference.

不好意思, 對不起 and 麻煩 overlap. 對不起 is an apology, 不好意思 covers “excuse me” and small apologies, and 麻煩 is “to trouble someone” as in 麻煩你 (máfan nǐ, “could I trouble you”).

便宜 has two readings in the dictionary. In the sense of “cheap” it is pián yi, which is the one on the list.

How to study the 100

A few approaches suit adult learners with limited time.

• Learn them in the groups above. Related words are easier to remember together, and each group matches a real situation.
• Pair each word with one sentence. Cards that show 我想買水 teach 想, 買 and 水 at once, which avoids isolated-word cards and the trouble they can cause. The case for context is made in Learn Chinese Vocabulary in Context.
• Pick a pace you can keep. At 5 new words a day, the 100 take about three weeks. At 10 a week, about ten. Either is a reasonable start for someone with a job and a family.
• Choose one reading system and use audio. If you are new to the sounds, the pinyin chart and Zhuyin chart let you hear each syllable. Both systems are shown above so you can use whichever your course uses.
• Write the common characters by hand when you can. Short ones like 水, 好 and 大 are good first practice.

What comes next

Once these feel automatic, the TOCFL lists continue in a regular sequence, and Band A Level 1 and Level 2 give you the next several hundred words. The honest range for how long that takes depends on your study time, as laid out in How Long Does It Take to Learn Mandarin?.

Related reading

• Basic Mandarin Phrases You’ll Use in Taiwan
• TOCFL Vocabulary Lists
• Chinese Numbers: 1–10, Big Numbers and 萬
• Learn Chinese Vocabulary in Context