These are the 100 most useful Chinese words from our 1000-word beginner course - the vocabulary you will hear and use most often. Learn them first and you will understand a surprising amount of everyday Chinese.
| # | Word | Chinese |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the apple | 苹果 |
| 2 | the book | 书 |
| 3 | the cat | 猫 |
| 4 | the dog | 狗 |
| 5 | the car | 车 |
| 6 | the house | 房子 |
| 7 | the chair | 椅子 |
| 8 | the table | 桌子 |
| 9 | the window | 窗户 |
| 10 | the door | 门 |
| 11 | the pencil | 铅笔 |
| 12 | the paper | 纸 |
| 13 | the school | 学校 |
| 14 | the teacher | 老师 |
| 15 | the student | 学生 |
| 16 | the boy | 男孩 |
| 17 | the girl | 女孩 |
| 18 | the adult | 大人 |
| 19 | the friend | 朋友 |
| 20 | the tree | 树 |
| 21 | the flower | 花 |
| 22 | the river | 河 |
| 23 | the mountain | 山 |
| 24 | the beach | 海滩 |
| 25 | the sun | 太阳 |
| 26 | the moon | 月亮 |
| 27 | the star | 星星 |
| 28 | the cloud | 云 |
| 29 | the rain | 雨 |
| 30 | the snow | 雪 |
| 31 | the wind | 风 |
| 32 | the fire | 火 |
| 33 | the water | 水 |
| 34 | the food | 食物 |
| 35 | the drink | 饮料 |
| 36 | the cup | 杯子 |
| 37 | the bottle | 瓶子 |
| 38 | the plate | 盘子 |
| 39 | the spoon | 勺子 |
| 40 | the fork | 叉子 |
| 41 | the knife | 刀 |
| 42 | the breakfast | 早餐 |
| 43 | the lunch | 午餐 |
| 44 | the dinner | 晚餐 |
| 45 | the fruit | 水果 |
| 46 | the vegetable | 蔬菜 |
| 47 | the bread | 面包 |
| 48 | the butter | 黄油 |
| 49 | the cheese | 奶酪 |
| 50 | the milk | 牛奶 |
| 51 | the coffee | 咖啡 |
| 52 | the tea | 茶 |
| 53 | the juice | 果汁 |
| 54 | the soda | 汽水 |
| 55 | the chocolate | 巧克力 |
| 56 | the candy | 糖果 |
| 57 | the cookie | 饼干 |
| 58 | the cake | 蛋糕 |
| 59 | the rice | 米饭 |
| 60 | the pasta | 意大利面 |
| 61 | the fish | 鱼 |
| 62 | the chicken | 鸡肉 |
| 63 | the beef | 牛肉 |
| 64 | the egg | 鸡蛋 |
| 65 | the soup | 汤 |
| 66 | the salad | 沙拉 |
| 67 | the sandwich | 三明治 |
| 68 | the pizza | 披萨 |
| 69 | the ice cream | 冰淇淋 |
| 70 | the cereal | 麦片 |
| 71 | the honey | 蜂蜜 |
| 72 | the sugar | 糖 |
| 73 | the salt | 盐 |
| 74 | the pepper | 胡椒 |
| 75 | the tomato | 西红柿 |
| 76 | the potato | 土豆 |
| 77 | the onion | 洋葱 |
| 78 | the carrot | 胡萝卜 |
| 79 | the lettuce | 生菜 |
| 80 | the cucumber | 黄瓜 |
| 81 | the banana | 香蕉 |
| 82 | the orange | 橙子 |
| 83 | the grapefruit | 西柚 |
| 84 | the strawberry | 草莓 |
| 85 | the grape | 葡萄 |
| 86 | the lemon | 柠檬 |
| 87 | the lime | 青柠 |
| 88 | the cherry | 樱桃 |
| 89 | the watermelon | 西瓜 |
| 90 | the pineapple | 菠萝 |
| 91 | the mango | 芒果 |
| 92 | the kiwi | 奇异果 |
| 93 | the peach | 桃子 |
| 94 | the pear | 梨 |
| 95 | the plum | 李子 |
| 96 | the berry | 浆果 |
| 97 | the melon | 甜瓜 |
| 98 | the phone | 电话 |
| 99 | the computer | 电脑 |
| 100 | the television | 电视 |
The 100 most frequent words cover about half of everyday spoken language. With the full 1000-word core vocabulary you understand around 85% of typical conversations in Chinese - enough to follow along and make yourself understood.
They are the most frequently used words of the language, selected by word frequency. Every one of them will appear again and again in real sentences, so each learned word immediately pays off.
Listen and repeat: every word in the 1000 Words course comes with native-speaker audio and an example sentence. Combined with spaced repetition in the free vocabulary trainer, most learners master the first 100 words within one to two weeks.