Introductory Course
Start Learning Chinese From Zero
Start here if Chinese is completely new to you. This course gives you a clear first map of Mandarin pronunciation, Chinese characters, and basic sentence structure before you move into HSK 1 or practical conversation lessons.
Goal Understand how Mandarin sounds work, how characters are built, and how simple Chinese sentences are organized.
Recommended pace 2-4 weeks. If you are busy, finish the 7-day beginner path first, then return for deeper practice.
Best for Complete beginners, self-study learners, and students who want a stronger foundation before HSK 1.
Start with the 7-Day Beginner Path Free
If the full course feels too big, follow this path first. It gives you one clear first pass through pronunciation, characters, and grammar, so the complete 29-lesson course feels organized instead of overwhelming.
- Day 1: Start here: understand what Chinese learning is built from.
- Day 2: Learn what Pinyin does and how a Chinese syllable works.
- Day 3: Use the Pinyin table as a sound map, not a memorization test.
- Day 4: Train your ear for the four tones.
- Day 5: See how Chinese characters are built.
- Day 6: Learn the most important stroke-order ideas.
- Day 7: Get the big-picture grammar map before HSK 1.
Full Course List
Recommended first pass: complete Start Here and Pinyin Unit 1-3 before moving into Characters and Grammar. Pinyin Unit 4-16 are pronunciation deep dives; use them later to review and correct specific sounds.
Set your expectations and learn the three pillars of Chinese: sound, characters, and grammar.
How to study: Read this once before the other lessons. Do not memorize; use it to build your learning map.
Learn the sound system first so every new word has a clear pronunciation path.
How to study: Listen first, repeat aloud, then use the examples to check whether you can hear the tones.
Use these lessons after the first pass to fix specific pronunciation problems and understand the detailed rules.
How to study: Do not try to master all of these before speaking. Come back when a sound or rule starts to matter.
- Pinyin Unit 4: Tone Sandhi - 3rd Tone + 3rd ToneRule 1
- Pinyin Unit 5: Tone Marking and AbbreviationRule 2
- Pinyin Unit 6: Initials j, q, x and z, c, sTips 1
- Pinyin Unit 7: Initials zh, ch, sh, rTips 2
- Pinyin Unit 8: Finals n and ngTips 3
- Pinyin Unit 9: Aspirated and Unaspirated InitialsTips 4
- Pinyin Unit 10: ü with j, q, xRule 3
- Pinyin Unit 11: Use of y and wRule 4
- Pinyin Unit 12: Tone Sandhi of bu and yiRule 5
- Pinyin Unit 13: Syllable-dividing MarkRule 6
- Pinyin Unit 14: The Retroflex Final
- Pinyin Unit 15: Neutral-tone Syllables
- Pinyin Unit 16: Sentence Stress
Learn how characters are built so they feel logical instead of random.
How to study: Focus on recognition first. Handwriting and full stroke memorization can come later.
- Character Unit 1: Overview of Chinese Characters
- Character Unit 2: Basic Strokes and Stroke Order
- Character Unit 3: Evolution and Logic of Characters
- Character Unit 4: Structure of Characters
- Character Unit 5: Semantic Radicals
- Character Unit 6: Phonetic Radicals
- Character Unit 7: From Characters to Words
Get the big-picture sentence structure before starting more vocabulary-heavy HSK lessons.
How to study: Build small sentences from the examples. Accuracy matters more than speed.