Counting on the family tree
You learn yī, èr, sān to count and the words for mother, father, older brother — because numbers and family are what you'll say first at any Chinese dinner table introducing yourself.
Counting and kin
- 一 yī — one
- 二 èr — two
- 三 sān — three
- 妈妈 māma — mom · 爸爸 bàba — dad
Characters + pinyin
Each character has a fixed sound written in pinyin with a tone mark. Learn the character, the pinyin, and the tone together.
Lab · Count on your hand
- Say yī, èr, sān while holding up one, two, three fingers.
- Match each to its character: 一, 二, 三.
- Notice the characters literally show the number of strokes.
What you should see: 一 二 三 are one, two, three — the number of horizontal strokes matches the value.