#character strokes

A/N: This is for those interested in writing in Chinese correctly! This lesson series is taken directly from my Living Language Chinese Character guide, but substantially paraphrased to be shortened and more simple.

What to know before diving into learning the brushstrokes that make up a Chinese character:

• Each brushstroke has a name, however the name does not influence the pronunciation of the character itself.
  

• The two types of strokes in Chinese Characters are called basic and turning (also referred to as “combined”)strokes. Turning strokes requires the writing utensil used to be turned more than once before it is lifted off the paper.
  

• If the strokes are not draw correctly then the character will not be legible, just like handwriting for languages like English, French, Spanish, etc. 
  

Lesson 1 - Basic Strokes

一 :: héng 横 (left to right)

丨 :: shù 竖 (top to bottom)

丿 :: piě 撇 (top to bottom left)

丶 :: diǎn 点 (top left to bottom right or top right to bottom left)

乛 :: zhé 折 (left to right with downward hook)

Lesson 1 Quizlet Set||Mandarin Chinese Classroom (for French and English speakers)

EXAMPLES IN ACTION

example of  héng in a character : 三 (sa1n (three))

example of  shù (and héng) in a character: 十 (shi2 (ten))

example of  piě (plus shù and héng) in a character: 千 (qia1n (thousand))

example of  diǎn (plus  piě, shù and héng) in a character: 玉  (yu4 (jade))

example of  zhé ( plus diǎn, piě, shù and héng) in a character: 买 (ma3i (buy))

in case you forgot what the numbers after the vowels mean in the pinyin examples

A/N: I will come back to edit this as more lessons are posted so there are links to future ones. Even so, these posts will be tagged as #character strokes.