1,000 Most Common Chinese Words

Focusing on the most commonly used words can help accelerate your learning and make your journey more enjoyable.

This list of the most common Chinese words was developed from a collection of more than 22 million movie subtitles sourced from opus.nlpl.eu. Since it was compiled from spoken text, it accurately reflects the most common words in spoken language. This list below is perfectly suited for language learners that want to be able to chat with friends or watch movies in Chinese!

The list uses simplified Chinese characters (简化字), which are common in Mainland China and Singapore.

Download All 1,000 Words

CSV file: 1,000 Most Common Chinese Words

1,000 most common words. Includes frequency rank, pinyin, and most common English translation. Structured to easily import into Anki or other flashcard software.

Smart vocab tracking with Adsonant

Top 100 Core Chinese Words

Quick view of the top 100 most common Chinese words by frequency with their most common translation. For the full list, download the CSV file above.

Rank	Hanzi	Pinyin	English
1	我	wǒ	I
2	你	nǐ	you
3	是	shì	to be
4	他	tā	he
5	我们	wǒmen	we
6	不	bù	not
7	这	zhè	this
8	好	hǎo	good
9	什么	shénme	what
10	就	jiù	just
11	有	yǒu	to have
12	她	tā	she
13	要	yào	to want
14	说	shuō	to say
15	知道	zhīdào	to know
16	都	dōu	all
17	会	huì	to be able to
18	去	qù	to go
19	人	rén	person
20	那	nà	that
21	也	yě	also
22	他们	tāmen	they
23	想	xiǎng	to think
24	来	lái	to come
25	做	zuò	to do
26	一个	yígè	one
27	没有	méiyǒu	not have
28	让	ràng	let
29	很	hěn	very
30	能	néng	can
31	你们	nǐmen	you
32	还	hái	still
33	这个	zhège	this one
34	怎么	zěnme	how
35	到	dào	reach
36	就是	jiùshì	precisely
37	这里	zhèlǐ	here
38	这样	zhèyàng	this way
39	走	zǒu	walk
40	事	shì	matter
41	它	tā	it
42	自己	zìjǐ	oneself
43	不会	búhuì	will not
44	个	gè	individual
45	看	kàn	look
46	谁	shuí	who
47	为什么	wèishénme	why
48	真的	zhēnde	really
49	告诉	gàosù	tell
50	不能	bùnéng	cannot
51	再	zài	again
52	已经	yǐjīng	already
53	没	méi	not
54	需要	xūyào	need
55	那个	nàge	that one
56	像	xiàng	like
57	这么	zhème	so
58	可能	kěnéng	maybe
59	谢谢	xièxie	thank you
60	先生	xiānsheng	mister
61	不要	búyào	do not
62	觉得	juéde	feel
63	找	zhǎo	find
64	多	duō	many
65	快	kuài	fast
66	喜欢	xǐhuan	like
67	听	tīng	listen
68	应该	yīnggāi	should
69	太	tài	too
70	还有	háiyǒu	also
71	又	yòu	again
72	叫	jiào	call
73	时候	shíhou	time
74	我会	wǒhuì	I will
75	才	cái	only
76	东西	dōngxi	thing
77	请	qǐng	please
78	一起	yìqǐ	together
79	死	sǐ	die
80	一下	yíxià	briefly
81	这些	zhèxiē	these
82	看到	kàndào	see
83	一	yī	one
84	孩子	háizi	child
85	没	méi	not
86	一样	yíyàng	same
87	吃	chī	eat
88	那么	nàme	so
89	问题	wèntí	problem
90	真	zhēn	really
91	开始	kāishǐ	start
92	工作	gōngzuò	work
93	帮	bāng	help
94	只	zhǐ	only
95	一定	yídìng	certainly
96	希望	xīwàng	hope
97	将	jiāng	will
98	一直	yìzhí	always
99	别	bié	do not
100	看看	kànkàn	have a look

Smart vocab tracking with Adsonant