| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to form a nominal expression, as in 皮革的[pi2 ge2 de5] "one made of leather" or 跑堂兒的|跑堂儿的[pao3 tang2 r5 de5] "a waiter (literally, one who runs back and forth in a restaurant)" or 新的[xin1 de5] "new one"); also pr. [di4] or [di5] in poetry and songs; really and truly; a taxi; a cab (abbr. for 的士[di1 shi4]); (bound form) bull's-eye; target | 40 | Lv 1 |
| 这个 | zhè gè | (pronoun) this; (adjective) this | 33 | Lv 1 |
| 它 | tā | it; it (pronoun for an animal) | 22 | Lv 1 |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] | 19 | Lv 1 |
| 一点 | yī diǎn | a bit; a little bit; (used in negative expressions) (not) the least bit; (after an adjective, used to form the comparative) a bit more, -er; a point (in a discussion etc); (calligraphy) dot stroke (、); one o'clock (abbr. for 一點鍾|一点钟[yi1 dian3 zhong1]) | 16 | Lv 3 |
| 我们 | wǒ men | we; us; ourselves; our | 16 | Lv 1 |
| 一下 | yī xià | (after a verb) a bit; a little (indicating brief duration, or softening the tone, or suggesting giving sth a try); all at once; suddenly | 14 | Lv 2 |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); to finish; (used with 得[de2] or 不[bu4] after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了[wang4 bu5 liao3] "cannot forget"); (literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 無|无[wu2] or 不[bu4]) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least; (of eyes) bright; clear-sighted; to understand clearly; to understand clearly (variant of 瞭|了[liao3]); unofficial variant of 瞭[liao4] | 14 | Lv 1 |
| 好 | hǎo | good; appropriate; proper; all right!; (before a verb) easy to; (before a verb) good to; (before an adjective for exclamatory effect) so; (verb complement indicating completion); (of two people) close; on intimate terms; (after a personal pronoun) hello; to be fond of; to have a tendency to; to be prone to | 14 | Lv 1 |
| 炝 | qiàng | to briefly boil (a vegetable etc), then dress with soy sauce, oil, vinegar etc; to briefly stir-fry (meat, chopped spring onions etc), then add to other ingredients and cook further | 13 | Unranked |
| 这 | zhè | (pronoun) this; these; (coll.) this; (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun); (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. [zhei4], esp. in Beijing) | 12 | Lv 1 |
| 味道 | wèi dào | flavor; taste; (fig.) feeling (of ...); sense (of ...); hint (of ...); (fig.) interest; delight; (dialect) smell; odor | 11 | Lv 19 |
| 拌 | bàn | to mix; to mix in; to toss (a salad) | 11 | Lv 137 |
| 放 | fàng | to put; to place; to release; to free; to let go; to let out; to set off (fireworks) | 11 | Lv 3 |
| 话 | huà | dialect; language; spoken words; speech; talk; words; conversation; what sb said; CL:種|种[zhong3],席[xi2],句[ju4],口[kou3],番[fan1]; old variant of 話|话[hua4] | 11 | Lv 3 |
| 出来 | chū lái | to come out; to appear; to arise; (after a verb, indicates coming out, completion of an action, or ability to discern or detect) | 10 | Lv 3 |
| 藠头 | jiào tóu | Chinese onion (Allium chinense) | 10 | Unranked |
| 油 | yóu | oil; fat; grease; petroleum; to apply tung oil, paint or varnish; oily; greasy; glib; cunning | 9 | Lv 27 |
| 给 | gěi | to; for; for the benefit of; to give; to allow; to do sth (for sb); (grammatical equivalent of 被); (grammatical equivalent of 把); (sentence intensifier); to supply; to provide | 9 | Lv 1 |
| 切 | qiè | to cut; to slice; to carve; (math) tangential; definitely; absolutely (not); (scoffing or dismissive interjection) Yeah, right.; Tut!; to grind; to correspond to; (used to indicate that the fanqie 反切[fan3 qie4] system should be applied to the previous two characters); (bound form) close to; (bound form) eager | 8 | Lv 23 |