HSK 1 Characters Worksheet

What is HSK 1?

HSK (汉语水平考试, Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì) is the standard Chinese proficiency test for non-native speakers. Level 1 is the starting point. It covers the words you need to greet people, count, say the time and date, talk about family, and order food or ask for directions.

The test has been revised over the years and the exact word list depends on which version your school or exam centre uses. The characters on this page come from words that appear at the first level in common HSK word lists, so they are useful whichever version you are studying.

Why group by theme?

Alphabetical word lists are good for checking, but they are hard to learn from. Writing 爸, 妈, 儿 and 子 in one session lets a learner build real words straight away: 爸爸, 妈妈, 儿子, 女儿. The quick-pick buttons above give you six themed sets:

Greetings: 你好 (hello), 谢谢 (thanks), 再见 (goodbye), 对不起 (sorry), 没关系 (it’s OK), 不客气 (you’re welcome).
People: 我, 你, 他, 她, family members, 朋友 (friend), 老师 (teacher), 学生 (student), 医生 (doctor).
Time: the numbers, plus 年 (year), 月 (month), 日 and 号 (day), 星期 (week), 今天, 明天 and 昨天.
Places: 中国, 北京, 家, 学校, 商店, 医院, 饭馆 and 火车站.
Verbs: 是, 有, 在, 看, 听, 说, 读, 写, 吃, 喝, 去, 来, 做, 买, 想, 爱 and 喜欢.
Things: 水, 米饭, 菜, 茶, 杯子, 桌子, 椅子, 电脑, 电视, 电影, 衣服, 书, 钱 and a cat and dog.

Does HSK 1 test handwriting?

At the lowest levels the exam is mainly listening and reading, so you will not be asked to write characters by hand. Writing still pays off. Learners who copy a character a few times recognise it faster and confuse look-alikes such as 大 and 太, or 天 and 夫, much less often.

A four-week plan

Week 1: Greetings and People. Practise saying each word while you write it.
Week 2: Time. Write today’s date in Chinese at the top of every sheet: 十月十五日.
Week 3: Places and Things. Label objects around the house with sticky notes.
Week 4: Verbs. Combine them with words from earlier weeks: 我去学校, 我喝茶, 我爱妈妈.

At the end of each week, print the same set with tracing set to 0 and pinyin on. If the learner can write a character from its pinyin alone, it is learnt.

Settings that work well

Medium boxes and three tracing boxes suit teenagers and adults.
For younger children, switch to large boxes and five tracing boxes.
Turn on stroke order for the first pass, then turn it off for review sheets to save space.

Questions learners ask

How many characters are in HSK 1?

It depends on the version of the syllabus. The older test had 150 words at level 1, which use fewer than 200 different characters. Newer syllabuses are larger. The themed sets here cover the core of both.

What comes after this?

Move on to the 100 most common characters to fill in the grammar words that HSK 1 texts use but rarely list, such as 的, 了 and 着.

How to print this worksheet

Pick a set with the buttons above, or type your own characters into the box.
Choose A4 or US Letter to match your printer paper.
Press Print or save as PDF. In the print window choose your printer, or “Save as PDF” to keep a copy.

Your settings are saved in the page address, so you can bookmark it or send the link to another parent or teacher and they will see the same worksheet.