Chinese has tens of thousands of characters. You do not need them. About 99 words and short phrases will carry you through a normal day in China — buying food, asking the way, saying you do not understand, and getting someone to slow down. This page teaches those 99. You read them, hear them, and say them, and the page listens and scores you.
Every word is written three ways: the 汉字 characters, the pīnyīn spelling with its tone mark, and the English meaning. Turn off 拼音 or English in the top bar to test yourself.
This page speaks with the voices installed in your browser, and their
quality varies a lot. A poor voice will teach you wrong tones, so it is worth one minute
to check. Press ▶ Test in the top bar. You should hear a clear, natural
Mandarin voice.
If it sounds robotic, flat, or nothing plays:
• Windows: Settings → Time & language → Speech → Manage voices → Add
Chinese (Simplified, China). Then reload this page.
• Microsoft Edge and Chrome ship natural online Mandarin voices —
names ending in (Natural) or starting with Google. Those are the best.
• Mac and iPhone: Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices → Chinese →
choose a Premium or Enhanced voice.
• Android reads Chinese well through Google Speech Services.
The dropdown in the top bar is sorted best-first, and each voice is tagged
natural, good or basic. Pick a natural one if you have it.
Mandarin uses pitch to tell words apart. The same syllable said with four different pitch shapes is four different words. Learn the shapes here, then listen for them in every word below.
In English, pitch carries feeling. In Chinese, pitch carries meaning. The syllable ma is five different words, and only the pitch tells them apart. Tap each one and copy it.
Two rules that save beginners a lot of trouble. One: when two third tones meet, the first one becomes a rising tone — 你好 is said ní hǎo, not nǐ hǎo. Two: the third tone on its own is mostly a low, flat creak. The full dip-and-rise only appears when the word stands alone or is stressed.
Ninety-nine words and phrases in nine groups, from greetings to survival sentences. Each card has the characters, the pinyin, the meaning, a note on how the word really behaves, and one example sentence you can play. Tap the speaker to hear it and the turtle to hear it slowly.
Tap 🔊 to hear a word, 🐢 to hear it slowly, and 📖 for the note and an example sentence. The notes are the part an app usually leaves out — the tone changes, the traps, and the reason a word behaves the way it does.