Learn Chinese

Learn Chinese online: a free course for complete beginners

Chinese is often described as “impossible” for beginners, mainly because of characters and tones. In reality, Chinese becomes approachable as soon as you learn it the right way: through real everyday expressions, repeated until they feel natural. The Loecsen Chinese course is a free online Chinese course for beginners, designed for people starting from zero, with one clear goal: help you start understanding and using Mandarin Chinese from the very first lessons.

The origins of Chinese and why the writing system matters

Chinese has one of the oldest written traditions still in use today. Modern spoken Mandarin is a living language, used daily by hundreds of millions of people, while the writing system has preserved strong continuity across centuries. Unlike alphabetic systems, Chinese does not write sounds letter by letter. It uses characters that represent meaning and usually correspond to one spoken syllable. This makes Chinese visually different, but not random.

Chinese writing: understanding characters without fear

The writing system is the biggest psychological barrier for many learners. To remove that fear, you need one clear mental model.

This does not mean characters are “mysterious pictures”. Most everyday characters are built with a system: they often combine a meaning hint (a category component) and a sound hint (a pronunciation component). When you learn characters through recurring parts and real sentences, memorization becomes far easier.

What a character is made of: components you can recognize

Many characters contain a core element that hints a broad meaning category. This element is often called a radical. A very common beginner radical relates to people:

When this “person” idea appears inside other characters, it is often written in a side form:

From 人 to real characters you actually use (with a visual clue)

A frequent beginner confusion is: “I don’t see 人 inside the word anymore.” The trick is that the component changes shape, but the function stays. Here are two extremely common characters explained in a beginner-friendly way:

• 亻 → signals “person / human”
• 也 → gives a pronunciation clue (sound-family hint)

• 亻 → signals “person / human”
• 尔 → gives a pronunciation clue (sound-family hint)

Which characters are used in this course and how to learn them

Your A1 Loecsen corpus contains 339 unique characters. That sounds like a lot—until you learn them the correct way. You do not learn 339 separate drawings. You learn a small core of very frequent characters first, and you meet the rest naturally through repetition in real phrases.

Below is a practical “core set” of the most reusable characters that keep reappearing in your course. Each one is shown with pinyin and a clear English meaning, plus examples taken directly from your corpus. The target character is highlighted in red every time to train automatic recognition.

How many Chinese characters do you need in real life — and how many are in this course?

One of the biggest misconceptions about Chinese is the idea that you must learn “thousands of characters” before you can do anything useful. The reality is much more practical.

Now, what about “real life Chinese” outside a beginner course?

In daily modern Mandarin, the number of characters a person needs depends on what “use” means:

• 300–500 characters → survival Chinese (travel, basic interaction, signs, menus)
• 1,000–1,500 characters → comfortable daily reading and messaging
• 2,500+ characters → fluent reading (news, books, professional content)

That is exactly why your Loecsen course is powerful: the 339 characters are not random. They are the characters that appear inside high-frequency survival sentences (greetings, questions, travel, directions, food, time, emergencies, and daily interaction).

How to learn the 339 characters efficiently (without burnout)

The key point is this: characters are not memorized as drawings. They are learned as spoken units inside sentences, with pinyin + tone, repeated until recognition becomes automatic.

• Sound first: always attach pinyin + tone to the character (example: wǒ, nǐ, bù).
• Meaning in context: learn what the full sentence means, not the isolated character.
• Visual recognition: the character must become “instant” (you recognize it like a logo, not like a puzzle).
• Component awareness: notice recurring parts (like 亻, 口, 女, 木) to reduce effort and improve recall.

Tones in Chinese: how pronunciation really works (and why it matters)

Tones are one of the most important aspects of Mandarin Chinese, and also one of the most misunderstood by beginners. In Chinese, the tone is part of the word. Changing the tone does not change the accent — it changes the meaning.

Mandarin Chinese uses four main tones, plus a neutral tone. Every syllable is pronounced with one of these tones:

• 1st tone: high and flat (steady pitch)
• 2nd tone: rising (like a question in English)
• 3rd tone: falling then rising
• 4th tone: sharp falling (strong, decisive)
• Neutral tone: light and unstressed

This means that even if two words look identical in pinyin, they can mean completely different things depending on the tone.

Why tones change meaning: a concrete example

A classic illustration uses the syllable ma. The spelling stays the same, but the meaning changes entirely:

• mā (1st tone) – mother (妈)
• má (2nd tone) – hemp (麻)
• mǎ (3rd tone) – horse (马)
• mà (4th tone) – to scold (骂)

Tones in real Loecsen A1 sentences

Tones are not learned in isolation in the Loecsen method. They are always learned inside real, complete sentences from the A1 corpus.

Here, the tone on 不 is crucial. Notice something important:

• 不 is normally pronounced bù (4th tone)
• But before a 4th-tone verb, it changes to bú (2nd tone)

The word 好 (hǎo – good) uses the 3rd tone. If the tone is wrong, the word may become hard to recognize or misunderstood.

Why tones must be learned early (and how Loecsen does it)

Trying to “add tones later” is one of the most common mistakes beginners make. In Chinese, tones are not decoration — they are part of the word itself.

This is why the Loecsen course:

• Always presents words with audio, never as silent text.
• Introduces tones inside full sentences, not isolated syllables.
• Uses repetition until tone + syllable become one unit.
• Includes speech recognition to help learners adjust their tones.

Over time, learners stop thinking about tones consciously. Just like melody in music, tones become automatic patterns recognized by the ear.

With regular exposure to real sentences from the Loecsen corpus, most learners find that tones become far less intimidating than expected — and often one of the most satisfying aspects of speaking Chinese.

Chinese sentences: learning grammar through real usage

Mandarin Chinese grammar is often perceived as difficult, but for beginners it is actually one of the most accessible grammatical systems. Chinese does not use verb conjugations, grammatical gender, or plural endings in the way many European languages do. Instead, meaning is expressed through stable word order, very frequent particles, and reusable sentence patterns.

With just these examples, several key aspects of Chinese grammar become immediately clear.

1. No verb conjugation: the verb never changes

In Chinese, the verb form stays the same regardless of the subject or the time reference. The verb 懂 (dǒng – to understand) looks exactly the same in all situations.

The difference between “I” and “you” is carried by the pronoun, not by the verb.

2. Negation is extremely regular

Negation in everyday Mandarin is usually formed by placing 不 (bù – not) directly before the verb.

This structure appears dozens of times in the Loecsen corpus:

3. Word order carries grammar

Because there is no conjugation, Chinese relies on a very stable word order. At A1 level, most sentences follow this simple pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object

The order remains predictable, which allows beginners to reuse patterns safely without fear of “breaking” the grammar.

4. Time is expressed without changing the verb

Chinese does not change verbs to express past or future. Time is indicated through time words, which appear frequently in the course:

The verb 走 (to leave) stays the same. The time word carries the meaning.

5. Grammar emerges through repetition, not explanation

Across the Loecsen A1 corpus, the same structures reappear again and again:

• 我 + verb (I do…)
• 不 + verb (do not…)
• 在 + place / action
• 要 + object

By repeating complete sentences such as:

learners absorb grammar, pronunciation, and characters at the same time, exactly as Chinese is used in real life.

This is why Chinese grammar, when learned through real usage, often feels easier than expected and allows beginners to communicate very early.

A complete learning method to reach A1 in Chinese

Reaching a first functional level in Chinese does not require long study sessions. It requires consistency, a clear path, and the right tools. The Loecsen course guides complete beginners toward a practical CEFR A1 level focused on understanding and being understood in everyday situations.

• Short daily practice sessions to build a sustainable habit.
• Listening-first exposure to natural Mandarin sounds and rhythm.
• Active repetition to anchor tones and confidence.
• Progressive tests to reinforce recall.
• Speech recognition to adjust pronunciation gradually.
• Spaced repetition and Super Memory to review at the right moment.
• AI dialogues to practice real-life situations with no pressure.
• Learn with music to connect Chinese with motivating content.

Helpful anti-dropout tips when motivation decreases

Motivation drops are normal. The goal is to keep the habit alive, even on low-energy days.

• Reduce your goal to 2 minutes to make starting easy.
• Switch mode: listen instead of speaking, or reread a familiar sentence.
• Return to phrases you already know to regain confidence.
• Use content you enjoy through the Learn with music tool.
• Speak without aiming for perfection: usage beats silence.

Consistency matters more than intensity.

Frequently asked questions about learning Chinese

Do I need to learn thousands of characters to start?

No. Your A1 course corpus contains 339 unique characters, and many of them repeat constantly. By mastering the high-frequency core first, you unlock a large part of the course very quickly.

Is Chinese grammar difficult?

Mandarin grammar is generally very regular: there is no verb conjugation by person, and many patterns are stable. Difficulty is mostly about habit and exposure, not complex rules.

How long before I can read and write something useful?

With regular practice, learners can recognize and write a useful set of characters in a few weeks. The fastest path is to learn characters through real sentences with pinyin + tone, not isolated lists.