| 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 | 28 | Lv 1 |
| 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] | 23 | 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]) | 23 | 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] | 23 | Lv 1 |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) | 20 | Lv 1 |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of; too many; in excess; (after a numeral) ... odd; how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duo2]); (bound form) multi-; poly- | 16 | Lv 2 |
| 马 | mǎ | horse; horse or cavalry piece in Chinese chess; knight in Western chess; abbr. for Malaysia 馬來西亞|马来西亚[Ma3 lai2 xi1 ya4]; CL:匹[pi3]; surname Ma | 15 | Lv 6 |
| 一 | yī | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit | 14 | Lv 1 |
| 老人 | lǎo rén | old man or woman; the elderly; one's aged parents or grandparents | 14 | Lv 36 |
| 件 | jiàn | item; component; classifier for events, things, clothes etc | 13 | Lv 3 |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- | 11 | Lv 1 |
| 可能 | kě néng | might (happen); possible; probable; possibility; probability; maybe; perhaps; CL:個|个[ge4] | 11 | Lv 2 |
| 好事 | hǎo shì | good action, deed, thing or work (also sarcastic, "a fine thing indeed"); charity; happy occasion; Daoist or Buddhist ceremony for the souls of the dead; to be meddlesome | 11 | Lv 15 |
| 说 | shuō | to persuade; to speak; to talk; to say; to explain; to comment; to scold; to tell off; (bound form) theory; doctrine; variant of 說|说[shuo1] | 11 | Lv 1 |
| 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.) | 10 | Lv 1 |
| 一个 | yī gè | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) | 9 | Lv 1 |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) | 9 | Lv 1 |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my | 9 | Lv 1 |
| 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) | 9 | Lv 1 |
| 儿子 | ér zi | son | 8 | Lv 4 |