2 · Sounds and characters
Characters and words
how characters combine, and why there are no spaces
Most words have two characters, and nothing on the page shows where one word ends.
A character is not the same thing as a word. Most words in modern Chinese have two characters: 学生, student; 电话, telephone; 朋友, friend. Many characters cannot stand on their own at all. 习 appears only inside words such as 学习, to study, 练习, to practise, and 复习, to revise. There are also many words of one character, especially verbs, pronouns and measure words: 吃, 去, 我, 本.
Because each character keeps a meaning, words are often built like small descriptions. 电, electricity, gives 电话, electric speech, 电脑, electric brain, 电影, electric shadows, and 电视, electric seeing. 火车, a fire vehicle, is a train. Knowing the characters lets a learner guess many new words — but a guess needs checking, because 东西, east-west, is simply “thing”.
Chinese is written without spaces. The characters run on in an even row, and the reader groups them into words: 我们在图书馆学习. For a native reader this is no harder than reading English words without seeing their letters one by one. On this site the pinyin is grouped by word, so the gaps in the pinyin show where the word boundaries are.
English speakers tend to translate character by character, which turns 学生 into “study-life” and misses that it is just “student”. They also take a single character from a dictionary and use it as if it were a word. Learn words, with all their characters, and treat the meanings of the parts as a memory aid rather than a definition.
The form
| two characters, one word | 学生、电话、朋友 |
| one character, one word | 吃、去、书、大 |
| a character used only inside words | 学习、练习、复习 |
| one character, a family of words | 电话、电脑、电影、电视 |
| three characters, one word | 图书馆、出租车、洗手间 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
Most words are two characters long, and each character usually adds part of the meaning.
我给他打了一个电话。I gave him a ring.
Many characters cannot stand alone and appear only inside words.
我们每天复习生词。We revise new words every day.
There are no spaces between words; the reader finds the boundaries.
我在图书馆看书。I'm reading in the library.
The characters help to guess a new word, but the guess must be checked.
我们坐火车去上海。We are going to Shanghai by train.
A closer look
One meaning, two lengths
Many ideas have a one-character and a two-character form: 学 and 学习, to learn; 帮 and 帮助, to help. The one-character form is usual in quick everyday phrases, 学中文, while the two-character form sounds fuller and is preferred on its own or in more formal speech.
Chinese also likes rhythm. Two-syllable words tend to pair with two-syllable words and one with one, so a phrase can sound wrong for no grammatical reason at all. Notice which combinations you hear together, and copy them as they come.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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a word was borrowed for its sound
its characters only write the sound, and no meaning can be read from them.
我喜欢吃巧克力。I like chocolate.
Loanwords take characters with the right syllables, whatever those characters mean on their own.
How to spot it
- 学习
- 电话
- 图书馆
Example sentences
她是大学生。She is a university student.
我的电脑坏了。My computer is broken.
周末我们去看电影吧。Let's go and see a film at the weekend.
请问，洗手间在哪儿？Excuse me, where is the toilet?
我喜欢学习外语。I like learning foreign languages.
我们坐出租车去机场。We'll take a taxi to the airport.
7 more example sentences
我哥哥买了一辆新汽车。My older brother has bought a new car.
我们在做练习。We are doing exercises.
这个词有两个字。This word has two characters.
我每天晚上看电视。I watch television every evening.
你的手机号码是多少？What's your mobile number?
明天考试，今天我要复习。There's an exam tomorrow, so today I have to revise.
我不喝啤酒。I don't drink beer.
Worth knowing (1)
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The pinyin shows the word boundaries
On this site the pinyin under the characters is grouped by word, as pinyin is meant to be written. Where the pinyin leaves a gap, a Chinese reader would see a boundary between two words.
我们明天去图书馆。We are going to the library tomorrow.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
A dictionary entry for 习 says “to practise”, but the character does not work as a word on its own. It needs its partner: 学习, 练习 or 复习. Learn the whole word, not the loose character.
Learn words, not loose characters: most words have two characters, and the page will not show where they end.
Your turn
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.