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HL
HSK 4 learner
Spain · HSK4 · 238
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Chinese has no alphabet — every word is built from characters called hanzi. This guide walks through how characters work, how many you actually need for HSK, and exactly how to study them. Everything you need is free: dictionary lookup, native audio, and stroke-order animations.
3,500
Characters for full literacy
200
Components to memorize
Free
Dictionary + audio
If you are starting Chinese, the single biggest question is "what do I do about the characters?". Chinese is written with a logographic script called hanzi (漢字 / 汉字). Each character stands for a syllable and almost always carries meaning on its own. There is no alphabet — you cannot sound out a new word the way you can in Spanish or German. That sounds intimidating, but the system is more learnable than it looks.
Modern Mandarin Chinese uses around 3,500 characters for everyday literacy. The good news: only 1,000 of them cover 90 percent of normal reading material, and only 500 cover 75 percent. Even better, characters are built from smaller pieces called radicals and components. Once you know roughly 200 components, almost every new character becomes a combination of pieces you already recognize.
On HSK Ace, every character in the free Chinese dictionary comes with pinyin (the official romanization), native audio, English meaning, HSK level, and stroke-order animation. You do not need to subscribe to anything. Open the dictionary, search for a character, and you have everything you need to read, hear, write, and remember it.
This page is the starting point for learning hanzi. It explains how the script works, what you need to know for HSK 1 through HSK 6, and how to use the free dictionary and stroke-order tool together so you remember characters instead of just recognizing them passively.
When you see 你好 ("hello"), you are looking at two characters: 你 (nǐ) and 好 (hǎo). Each one is one syllable, written in one square. You cannot break the character apart into smaller sounds the way you would in English.
Most characters are made of 2–4 smaller pieces called components or radicals. For example, 好 ("good") is 女 (woman) + 子 (child). Once you learn ~200 common components, you can decode the structure of nearly every new character you meet.
Pinyin (e.g. nǐ hǎo) shows you how to pronounce a character with Latin letters and tone marks. It is used everywhere: dictionaries, learning apps, even Chinese keyboards. You will read pinyin every day, but you still need the characters themselves for real-world reading.
Tap any character to see its stroke order with native audio, or look it up in the free dictionary.
Pay once for a Shells pack. Use them on any feature, any level, forever — no monthly fee.
| Feature | HSK Ace One-time Shells | Subscription apps ~$14.99 / month | Free apps Limited access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Chinese dictionary | |||
| Native audio every entry |
Buy once, use across every HSK and HSKK level on HSK Ace.
Free dictionary, free audio, free daily stroke-order practice. Unlock unlimited use with a one-time Shells pack — no subscription.
Mainland China, Singapore, and the HSK exam use simplified hanzi (e.g. 学 for "study"). Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau use traditional hanzi (學). Learn simplified first if your goal is HSK or work in mainland China — traditional can be added later in a few weeks.
Educated adult literacy in Chinese requires about 3,500 characters. HSK 6 covers ~2,600. HSK 4 covers ~1,200. You do not need to know "every" character to read a newspaper — most low-frequency characters appear once a year, if that.
Every character has a fixed stroke order. Following it is not just tradition — it helps your hand remember the shape, makes characters look balanced, and is required by the HSK 3+ writing section. Free stroke-order animations are available for every character on HSK Ace.
| Pleco-style tone colors |
| Stroke-order animation |
| AI speaking grading |
| No expiry on credits |
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Record any sentence. Get instant feedback on pinyin, tones, and fluency.
Verified scores and notes from learners who used HSK Ace to build their Chinese foundation.
“Switched from a monthly app and never looked back. Buying Shells once felt like reclaiming my own pace.”
HSK 4 learner
Spain · HSK4 · 238
“Mock exams match the real format down to the timing. I knew exactly what to expect on test day.”
HSK 5 learner
Netherlands · HSK5 · 252
“Honest pricing without a free trial trap. Started small, topped up later when I needed more speaking checks.”
HSK 3 learner
Italy · HSK3 · 215