| 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 | 143 | 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] | 91 | Lv 1 |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) | 48 | Lv 1 |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- | 38 | 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] | 38 | Lv 1 |
| 这个 | zhè gè | (pronoun) this; (adjective) this | 38 | Lv 1 |
| 人 | rén | person; people; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] | 32 | Lv 1 |
| 卖 | mài | to sell; to betray; to spare no effort; to show off or flaunt | 32 | Lv 5 |
| 吃 | chī | to eat; to consume; to eat at (a cafeteria etc); to eradicate; to destroy; to absorb; to suffer (shock, injury, defeat etc); variant of 吃[chi1] | 32 | Lv 2 |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) | 32 | Lv 1 |
| 我们 | wǒ men | we; us; ourselves; our | 32 | 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) | 31 | Lv 1 |
| 这里 | zhè lǐ | here; variant of 這裡|这里[zhe4 li3] | 26 | Lv 1 |
| 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 | 25 | Lv 1 |
| 烤 | kǎo | to roast; to grill; to broil; to bake; to toast (bread); to warm oneself by a fire | 24 | Lv 18 |
| 吗 | ma | (coll.) what?; used in 嗎啡|吗啡[ma3 fei1]; (question particle for "yes-no" questions) | 23 | Lv 1 |
| 都 | dōu | all; both; entirely; (used for emphasis) even; already; (not) at all; capital city; metropolis; surname Du | 23 | Lv 1 |
| 什么 | shén me | what?; something; anything | 22 | 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.) | 22 | 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) | 22 | Lv 1 |