Every HSK 1 vocabulary list on the internet is the same — alphabetical, organised by topic, or in textbook order. None of them are organised the way that actually helps your pronunciation: by tone pattern.
This list flips that. Below, all ~150 HSK 1 words are grouped by their tone shape (T1-T1, T2-T3, single T4, etc.). The big advantage: when you drill a group, every word in it has the same melody. You build muscle memory for the contour first, then the words slot in.
Tip: open the interactive pinyin chart in another tab and click each syllable as you read. Listening before reciting cements the tone faster than reading the pinyin alone.
Before you start memorising: take the free two-minute pronunciation test to find out which tone patterns you personally get wrong — then use the groups below to drill exactly those.
How to use this list
- Pick a single tone pattern (say T1-T1).
- Read all the words in that group out loud.
- Notice how the melody is identical — only the consonants and vowels change.
- Move on to the next pattern only when the current one feels automatic.
Practising this way is dramatically more efficient than mixing all 150 words together from day one. You're separating two learning problems — which sounds make this word? and what's the tone shape? — instead of solving them simultaneously.
Single-syllable words — by tone
T1 (high level)
- 八 bā — eight
- 三 sān — three
- 七 qī — seven
- 书 shū — book
- 家 jiā — home, family
- 喝 hē — to drink
- 听 tīng — to listen
- 说 shuō — to speak
- 多 duō — much, many
- 高 gāo — tall
T2 (rising)
- 来 lái — to come
- 国 guó — country
- 谁 shéí — who
- 学 xué — to study
- 钱 qián — money
- 茶 chá — tea
- 时 shí — time
T3 (dip-rise)
- 我 wǒ — I, me
- 你 nǐ — you
- 几 jǐ — how many
- 五 wǔ — five
- 九 jiǔ — nine
- 好 hǎo — good
- 想 xiǎng — to want, to think
- 买 mǎi — to buy
- 写 xiě — to write
- 有 yǒu — to have
T4 (falling)
- 二 èr — two
- 四 sì — four
- 六 liù — six
- 大 dà — big
- 看 kàn — to look
- 去 qù — to go
- 会 huì — can, will
- 做 zuò — to do
- 是 shì — to be
- 在 zài — at, in
Two-syllable words — by tone pattern
These are the most useful drills because two-syllable patterns are how you actually speak Mandarin.
T1-T1
- 今天 jīntiān — today
- 飞机 fēijī — airplane
- 工作 gōngzuò (actually T1-T4 — included as a contrast)
- 中国 Zhōngguó (actually T1-T2)
T1-T2
- 中国 Zhōngguó — China
- 公园 gōngyuán — park
- 家人 jiārén — family
- 西瓜 xīguā (T1-T1, contrast)
T1-T3
- 商店 shāngdiàn (T1-T4 actually)
- 高兴 gāoxìng (T1-T4 actually)
- 多少 duōshǎo — how many
T1-T4
- 工作 gōngzuò — work
- 高兴 gāoxìng — happy
- 商店 shāngdiàn — shop
- 谢谢 xièxie (T4-neutral, contrast)
T2-T1
- 学校 xuéxiào (T2-T4 actually)
- 时间 shíjiān — time
- 同学 tóngxué (T2-T2)
T2-T2
- 朋友 péngyǒu (T2-T3 actually)
- 同学 tóngxué — classmate
- 银行 yínháng — bank
- 学习 xuéxí — to study
T2-T3
- 朋友 péngyou — friend
- 牛奶 niúnǎi — milk
T2-T4
- 学校 xuéxiào — school
- 人民 rénmín (T2-T2 actually)
- 国外 guówài — abroad
T3-T1
- 老师 lǎoshī — teacher
- 北京 Běijīng — Beijing
- 美国 Měiguó (T3-T2)
- 火车 huǒchē — train
T3-T2
- 美国 Měiguó — America
- 法国 Fǎguó — France
- 你好 nǐhǎo — hello (T3-T3 surface, but pronounced T2-T3)
T3-T3 (becomes T2-T3 in speech!)
- 你好 nǐ hǎo — hello
- 水果 shuǐguǒ — fruit
- 我们 wǒmen (T3-neutral)
- 跑步 pǎobù — to run (T3-T4)
Important: when two T3 syllables come back to back, the first one shifts to T2 in actual pronunciation. Nǐ hǎo is written T3-T3 but said as T2-T3 ("ní hǎo"). This is called third-tone sandhi — see our dedicated explainer.
T3-T4
- 跑步 pǎobù — to run
- 早上 zǎoshang (T3-neutral)
- 雨伞 yǔsǎn — umbrella
T4-T1
- 电视 diànshì (T4-T4)
- 爸爸 bàba (T4-neutral)
- 看书 kànshū — to read
T4-T2
- 电话 diànhuà (T4-T4)
- 上来 shànglái — come up
- 下来 xiàlái — come down
T4-T3
- 汉语 Hànyǔ — Mandarin
- 课本 kèběn — textbook
T4-T4
- 电视 diànshì — TV
- 电话 diànhuà — telephone
- 再见 zàijiàn — goodbye
- 现在 xiànzài — now
- 月亮 yuèliang (T4-neutral)
- 上课 shàngkè — to attend class
T-neutral (any tone + light second syllable)
- 妈妈 māma — mom
- 爸爸 bàba — dad
- 谢谢 xièxie — thank you
- 我们 wǒmen — we
- 他们 tāmen — they
- 朋友 péngyou — friend
- 椅子 yǐzi — chair
- 桌子 zhuōzi — table
The 10 hardest HSK 1 words to pronounce
Some HSK 1 words fail far more often than others in our learners' recordings. If you can say these ten cleanly, the rest of the list is easy:
- 四 (sì) vs 十 (shí) — the classic. "Four" is a dental s with a falling tone; "ten" is a retroflex sh with a rising tone. Getting either wrong turns 14 into 40. Compare them on the sì 四 page and the shí 十-family shi page.
- 你好 (nǐ hǎo) — third-tone sandhi: say ní hǎo, not two full dips. Reference audio on the nǐ hǎo page.
- 谢谢 (xièxie) — the second syllable is a light neutral tone, not a second falling tone. Hear it on the xièxie page.
- 对不起 (duì bu qǐ) — three different tone behaviours in one word: falling, neutral, low third. Practice it on the duì bu qǐ page.
- 出租车 (chūzūchē) — three first tones in a row; keeping the pitch high and level for three syllables is harder than it sounds.
- 学习 (xuéxí) — two rising tones back to back; most learners let the second one flatten.
- 女儿 (nǚ'ér) — the ü vowel plus the r-final érhuà syllable, two sounds English lacks.
- 再见 (zàijiàn) — double fourth tone; both syllables must fall decisively. Reference: zàijiàn page.
- 妈妈 (māma) — sounds trivial, but the second syllable must be short and neutral. Reference: māma page.
- 中国 (Zhōngguó) — the 1st→2nd transition plus the -ong final. Reference: Zhōngguó page.
Practice every word with audio and AI feedback
A list is only as useful as the practice attached to it. Three free tools cover the whole loop:
- The HSK vocabulary hub has all levels with hanzi, pinyin, and audio — HSK 1 is where the words in this article live. Click any word to hear it and record yourself.
- The interactive pinyin chart is the place to fix an individual sound: if 出租车 (chūzūchē) keeps failing, drill the syllables chu, zu, and che separately, then reassemble.
- The free pronunciation test tells you which tone patterns to prioritise before you invest hours.
The efficient order is diagnose → drill the sound → drill the word → use it in a sentence.
From words to sentences
Single words are the wrong stopping point — HSK 1 words appear in the exam (and in life) inside sentences, and tones behave differently in connected speech. Take each tone-pattern group you finish and put it into simple sentences:
- 我是学生。(Wǒ shì xuésheng.) — I am a student.
- 我想喝茶。(Wǒ xiǎng hē chá.) — I want to drink tea.
- 他们今天工作。(Tāmen jīntiān gōngzuò.) — They work today.
Paste these — or any HSK 1 sentence from your textbook — into the custom text practice tool and read them aloud. Sentence-level practice is where the tone patterns you drilled above become actual speech. For the method behind this ear-then-mouth progression, see the complete guide to learning Chinese tones.
What comes after HSK 1?
HSK 2 adds roughly 150 more words, and the tone-pattern approach keeps working all the way up: the patterns never change, only the vocabulary plugged into them. Two suggestions before you move on:
- Do not leave HSK 1 with "readable but unspeakable" vocabulary. If you recognise 谢谢 on paper but natives do not understand your xièxie, the word is not learned yet.
- Keep a personal weak-pattern list. Most learners have one or two tone patterns (usually something involving the third tone) that stay weak across levels. Knowing yours makes every future level faster.
Browse the full HSK vocabulary section to see what is ahead — and lock in your HSK 1 pronunciation first.
How to drill this list efficiently
Day 1–2: read every word in T1, T2, T3, T4 single-syllable groups. Don't worry about meaning yet — just say each one out loud, with the right contour.
Day 3–4: add the easy two-syllable patterns: T1-T1, T4-T4, anything-neutral.
Day 5–7: the trickier patterns: T2-T3, T3-T2, and especially T3-T3 (where the first T3 becomes T2).
Day 8 onward: mix patterns in random order and prompt yourself with the English meaning. Force yourself to produce the Mandarin word with the correct tone.
If you want feedback on whether your tones actually land, the TonePerfect app lets you record any of these words and gives you a per-tone score. Most learners discover that one or two specific tone patterns are consistently wrong — and once you know which ones, you can fix them in days, not months.
Take the free 2-minute pronunciation test to see which patterns you struggle with most.