Mandarin Chinese A1 — Beginner
Start reading, writing, and speaking Mandarin Chinese. Master tones, pinyin, essential characters, and everyday conversations at the CEFR A1 level.
5 units and 17 lessons, for Grade 6 to Grade 12. Free on Slate.
Unit 1: Tones & Pinyin
The phonetic foundation: master the four tones and pinyin romanization before writing a single character.
- The Four Tones (10 min)
- Pinyin — Reading Chinese in Roman Letters (10 min)
- Tone Pairs & Minimal Pairs (10 min)
Unit 2: Characters & Radicals
The building blocks of written Chinese: learn the radical system and your first 50 characters.
- What Are Radicals? (10 min)
- Stroke Order — The Rules of Writing (10 min)
- Your First 50 Characters (10 min)
Unit 3: Greetings & Basics
Essential phrases for meeting people and navigating everyday situations.
- 你好! Greetings & Introductions (10 min)
- Thank You, Sorry, Please (10 min)
- Numbers 1–100 (一到一百) (10 min)
Unit 4: Sentence Structure
How Mandarin sentences work: the grammar that makes everything else possible.
- Subject-Verb-Object in Mandarin (10 min)
- 是 and 有 — To Be and To Have (10 min)
- 不 and 没 — Negation in Mandarin (10 min)
- Questions with 吗 and Question Words (10 min)
Unit 5: Everyday Vocabulary
Build your first 200 Chinese words across essential everyday topics.
- 家人 — Family Members (10 min)
- 颜色 — Colors (10 min)
- 吃什么? — Food & Drink (10 min)
- 天气和时间 — Weather & Time (10 min)