Characters (汉字-Hanzi)

Characters are important in the Chinese system. Characters are made up of pinyin (written form of characters). They are made up of the following characteristics: logograms, stroke order, radicals, and pronunciation (tones). Below those characteristics will be discussed.

What is Stroke Order?

How you write the character:

Horizontal before Vertical
left to right
top to bottom
diagonal right to left before diagonal left to right
outside before inside
inside before outside
inside before bottom enclosing
center verticals before outside hook
outside to inside then close it
center then left and right
dian last-cutting strokes last
left vertical before enclosing
top to upper-left dots first
inside to upper-right dots last

Sentence Structure

Verb + 不 + Verb
Subject + Verb + Object
Subject+verb+不+verb+object
- Subject: pronouns, proper nouns, nouns, occupations
  - Pronouns: 我，她，你，他，它，我们，他们，她们，它们
  - PN EX: Landmarks
  - Noun EX: 学生 xue sheng - student
  - Occupation EX: 老师 lao shi - teacher
- Verb: action verb, state verb, behavioral verb, emotional verb, movement verb
  - AV EX: 吃 chi - to eat
  - SV EX: 是 shi - is，有 you - to have, yes
  - BV EX: 游泳 you yong - to swim
  - EV EX: 高兴 gao xing - to be happy
  - MV EX: 走 zuo - walk
- Object: nouns of objects, pronouns of objects, demonstrative pronouns, quantifiers with objects, specific objects
  - NO EX: 书 shu - book
  - PO EX: 他，她，它；我看他
  - DO: 这 zhe - this (near speaker), 这些 zhe xie - these (near speaker), 那 na - that (far from speaker), 那些 na xie - those (far from speaker), 这个 zhe ge - this (neutral)，那个 that (neutral)
  - QO: Number of objects; EX: 一书 yi shu - one book
  - SO: blue car, chinese food, special things.
- EX: 他喜欢看书
  - 他 = he (pronoun)
  - 喜欢 = like (verb)
  - 看书 = read (object--book)

Character Strokes: 8 Fundamental + Descriptions

8 Fundamental:

一 ➜ héng/横 ➜ Horizontal stroke
㇀ ➜ tí/提 ➜ Horizontal but slanted
丨➜ shù/竖 ➜ Vertical Stroke
丿➜ piě/撇 ➜ Left-falling Stroke
丶➜ diǎn/点 ➜ Dot Stroke (both L&R)
㇏ ➜ nà/捺 ➜ Right-falling Stroke
亅 ➜ gōu/钩 ➜ Hook

Hook variations:

㇖ ➜ héng gōu/横钩 ➜ Horizontal then Folding hook
㇂ ➜ xié gōu/斜勾 ➜ Slanted right going down then hook

Compound Strokes:

㇇ ➜ Héng Piě/横撇 ➜ Horizontal stroke with a left-falling stroke
㇕ ➜ Héng Zhé/横折 ➜ Horizontal stroke with a bend
㇖ ➜ 横钩/Héng Gōu ➜ Horizontal stroke with a hook
㇚➜ 竖钩/Shù Gōu ➜ Vertical stroke with a hook
㇂ ➜ 斜钩/Xié Gōu ➜ Slanted stroke with a hook
㇁➜ 弯钩/Wān Gōu ➜ Bent stroke with a hook
➜ 卧钩/Wò Gōu ➜ Lying stroke with a hook
➜ 竖折/Shù Zhé ➜ Vertical stroke with a bend
➜ 竖提/Shù Tí ➜ Vertical stroke with a rising stroke
➜ 竖弯钩/Shù Wān Gōu ➜ Vertical stroke with a bend and a hook
➜ 横折钩/Héng Zhé Gōu ➜ Horizontal stroke with a bend and a hook
➜ 竖折钩/Shù Zhé Gōu ➜ Vertical stroke with a bend and a hook
➜ 撇折/Piě Zhé ➜ Left-falling stroke with a bend

Additional Derived Strokes:

➜ 斜撇/Xié Piě ➜ Slanted left-falling stroke
➜ 竖撇/Shù Piě ➜ Vertical stroke transitioning into a left-falling stroke
➜ 撇点/Piě Diǎn ➜ Left-falling stroke with a dot
➜ 竖弯/Shù Wān ➜ Vertical stroke with a bend
➜ 竖弯钩/Shù Wān Gōu ➜ Vertical stroke with a bend and a hook
➜ 弯折/Wān Zhé ➜ Bent stroke with a turn

Other Strokes:

➜ 长横/Cháng Héng ➜ Long horizontal stroke
➜ 短横/Duǎn Héng ➜ Short horizontal stroke
➜ 短撇/Duǎn Piě ➜ Short left-falling stroke
➜ 横点/Héng Diǎn ➜ Horizontal stroke with a dot
➜ 撇横/Piě Héng ➜ Left-falling stroke with a horizontal stroke
➜ 折点/Zhé Diǎn ➜ Turning stroke with a dot
➜ 点折/Diǎn Zhé ➜ Dot with a turn

Miscellaneous Strokes

➜ 横折提/Héng Zhé Tí ➜ Horizontal stroke with a bend and a rising stroke
➜ 横斜钩/Héng Xié Gōu ➜ Horizontal stroke with a slanted hook
➜ 横折斜钩/Héng Zhé Xié Gōu ➜ Horizontal stroke with a bend and a slanted hook
➜ 竖弯斜钩/Shù Wān Xié Gōu ➜ Vertical stroke with a bend and a slanted hook

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