| 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 | 81 | Lv 1 |
| 他 | tā | (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2]) | 72 | Lv 1 |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) | 50 | Lv 1 |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- | 49 | 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] | 44 | Lv 1 |
| 毒品 | dú pǐn | drugs; narcotics; poison | 44 | Lv 12 |
| 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] | 40 | Lv 1 |
| 嗯 | ng | (a groaning sound); (nonverbal grunt as interjection); OK, yeah; what?; interjection indicating approval, appreciation or agreement | 39 | Lv 2 |
| 罗 | luó | gauze; to collect; to gather; to catch; to sift; surname Luo | 36 | Lv 15 |
| 老 | lǎo | prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity; old (of people); venerable (person); experienced; of long standing; always; all the time; of the past; very; outdated; (of meat etc) tough | 35 | Lv 5 |
| 你 | nǐ | you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您[nin2]); you (Note: In Taiwan, 妳 is used to address females, but in mainland China, it is not commonly used. Instead, 你 is used to address both males and females.) | 33 | Lv 1 |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my | 28 | Lv 1 |
| 所以 | suǒ yǐ | therefore; as a result; so; the reason why | 27 | Lv 2 |
| 这个 | zhè gè | (pronoun) this; (adjective) this | 27 | 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 | 25 | Lv 1 |
| 非常 | fēi cháng | very; really; unusual; extraordinary | 23 | Lv 2 |
| 人 | rén | person; people; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] | 21 | Lv 1 |
| 卖 | mài | to sell; to betray; to spare no effort; to show off or flaunt | 21 | Lv 5 |
| 一个 | yī gè | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) | 19 | Lv 1 |
| 呢 | ne | particle indicating that a previously asked question is to be applied to the preceding word ("What about ...?", "And ...?"); particle for inquiring about location ("Where is ...?"); particle signaling a pause, to emphasize the preceding words and allow the listener time to take them on board ("ok?", "are you with me?"); (at the end of a declarative sentence) particle indicating continuation of a state or action; particle indicating strong affirmation; dense wool fabric (used for coats and jackets) | 19 | Lv 2 |