Top 5 Chinese Characters You Should Know

Learning Chines Characters are sometimes daunting for many foreigners. First you have to decide if you should learn Simplified or Traditional Characters, and then which apps or learning tools you should use and more importantly, you do not know where to even get started.

We are here to help today. If you are going to China soon, this article is especially helpful for you as we are going to share with you the Top 5 Chinese characters you will see in China. You can also check our recent round up article about how to write Chinese characters.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

1. 我(Wǒ)－I／me

Of course, this is one of the common characters you will use. The sound is similar to the English word-“Wall”. It’s really depending on where is characters in the sentence. It can mean I/me.
Eg. 我爱你－I love you
我是美国人－I am American
帮助我－Help me

2.  哈哈((Hāhā)－LOL, Laugh

If you have ever chatted with some Chinese friends in wechat or qq(both are Chinese chatting apps and tool), you will find these characters are almost everywhere. It basically means LOL in English. They do not carry special meaning. If your friend tell you some funny things, you can say 哈哈 to reply.

3. 元(Yuán)－RMB. Chinese currency

I know most of you like shopping. And when you got a chance to come to China you might want to buy something special and carry them back to you country, right? Then first of all, you need to recognize the Chinese currency character, otherwise you don’t know how much does it cost for different products. So the character 元 is something you should remember. Keep in mind, if you like to shop around in the small local street market, always try to bargain the price.
Eg. 27. 5元－27.5 RMB

4. 知道(Zhīdào)－know

These words in my opinion are especially good and helpful for travelers. Sometimes you need to tell other people if you know or do not know something. For example, people might ask you do you know how to get to some places? Then you can answer below:
我知道：I know
我不知道：I don’t know

5. 是(Shì)－Yes
Last but not least, here’s the important one. It sounds similar the word “Shh” or “Shirt”. 是is a very common character that you can see a lot in China. It’s very helpful when you need to answer the simple yes or no questions.
Eg. 你是美国人吗？Are you American?
To answer it: 是：yes
不是：No
There are lots of other sayings to express yes or no, but this character should be basic to get started.

Want to know more about Chinese characters and learn Mandarin Chinese? You are also welcomed to check out our daily Mandarin Chinese learning podcast to get advancement for your learning journey.