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	我们	wǒmen	we
5	他	tā	he
6	不	bù	not
7	这	zhè	this
8	好	hǎo	good
9	什么	shénme	what
10	会	huì	to be able to
11	有	yǒu	to have
12	就	jiù	just
13	她	tā	she
14	说	shuō	to say
15	要	yào	to want
16	知道	zhīdào	to know
17	都	dōu	all
18	人	rén	person
19	来	lái	to come
20	去	qù	to go
21	那	nà	that
22	想	xiǎng	to think
23	一	yī	one
24	他们	tāmen	they
25	也	yě	also
26	个	gè	measure word
27	一个	yígè	one
28	做	zuò	to do
29	让	ràng	let
30	没有	méiyǒu	not have
31	能	néng	can
32	没	méi	not
33	很	hěn	very
34	你们	nǐmen	you
35	到	dào	reach
36	还	hái	still
37	怎么	zěnme	how
38	这个	zhège	this one
39	看	kàn	look
40	这里	zhèlǐ	here
41	事	shì	matter
42	这样	zhèyàng	this way
43	就是	jiùshì	precisely
44	走	zǒu	walk
45	多	duō	many
46	它	tā	it
47	别	bié	do not
48	不会	búhuì	will not
49	自己	zìjǐ	oneself
50	谁	shuí	who
51	为什么	wèishénme	why
52	告诉	gàosù	tell
53	真的	zhēnde	really
54	再	zài	again
55	像	xiàng	like
56	快	kuài	fast
57	这么	zhème	so
58	已经	yǐjīng	already
59	不能	bùnéng	cannot
60	那个	nàge	that one
61	听	tīng	listen
62	需要	xūyào	need
63	点	diǎn	point
64	谢谢	xièxie	thank you
65	不要	búyào	do not
66	觉得	juéde	feel
67	太	tài	too
68	可能	kěnéng	maybe
69	喜欢	xǐhuan	like
70	找	zhǎo	find
71	天	tiān	day
72	先生	xiānsheng	mister
73	应该	yīnggāi	should
74	请	qǐng	please
75	两	liǎng	two
76	大	dà	big
77	时候	shíhou	time
78	叫	jiào	call
79	还有	háiyǒu	also
80	真	zhēn	really
81	又	yòu	again
82	死	sǐ	die
83	东西	dōngxi	thing
84	才	cái	only
85	一起	yìqǐ	together
86	帮	bāng	help
87	这些	zhèxiē	these
88	只	zhǐ	only
89	一下	yíxià	briefly
90	更	gèng	more
91	孩子	háizi	child
92	问题	wèntí	problem
93	那么	nàme	so
94	最	zuì	most
95	吃	chī	eat
96	看到	kàndào	see
97	一样	yíyàng	same
98	开始	kāishǐ	start
99	工作	gōngzuò	work
100	带	dài	bring

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