# The SayMei Chinese Characters Practice Book Five character workbooks in one: 200 useful characters, 50 radicals, stroke-order rules and look-alike characters Source: https://www.saymei.app/resources/downloads/saymei-chinese-characters-practice-book ## At a glance - Level: Beginner · HSK 1 - Format: Practice book · PDF · 165 pages · US Letter (prints on A4) - Price: Free · free with a saymei account · updated Oct 27, 2026 ## Download Free with a SayMei account, on the workbook's page: https://www.saymei.app/resources/downloads/saymei-chinese-characters-practice-book. SayMei emails a copy too. ## A line from the workbook 汉字一点儿也不难！ (Hànzì yìdiǎnr yě bù nán!) — Chinese characters aren't hard at all! ## By the end you can - Tell strokes, components and radicals apart. Start with the five ideas that make characters make sense, and learn when a component is a real hint and when it's only a cue. - Read 100 everyday characters by their shared parts. Meet characters in 15 component families, like 亻, 口, 氵, 讠 and 宀, each inside a useful word such as 请问, 没有 or 手机. 休息 (xiūxi): rest - Read 100 more and use them in sentences. Learn the next 100 in topic sets for family, time, food, shopping and places, and tell pairs like 作 and 做, 买 and 卖 apart. 他卖衣服，我买衣服。 (Tā mài yīfu, wǒ mǎi yīfu.): He sells clothes, and I buy clothes. - Name 50 radicals and what each one hints at. Learn radicals by meaning in sets, like person, body, water, fire, plants and animals, and count the dots to tell water from ice. 今天很冷，河里有冰。 (Jīntiān hěn lěng, hé lǐ yǒu bīng.): It is cold today; there is ice on the river. - Guess new characters, menu items and signs from their radicals. Use the radical to guess what an unfamiliar character means, sort characters by radical, and tell look-alike radicals apart. - Write the 8 basic strokes and follow the 8 stroke-order rules. Name strokes from 横 to 钩, then apply rules like horizontal before vertical and outside before inside to characters you've never seen. 先横后竖 (xiān héng hòu shù): horizontal first, then vertical - Spot the one stroke that changes a character. Tell 13 look-alike sets apart, from 人 and 入 to 己 and 已, by checking the exact stroke, dot or corner that differs. 我已经吃饭了。 (Wǒ yǐjīng chī fàn le.): I've already eaten. ## What's inside - Workbook 1: Learn 100 Useful Chinese Characters by Component - Workbook 2: Learn 100 More Useful Chinese Characters by Component - Workbook 3: Chinese Radicals Workbook: 50 Radicals to Read New Characters - Workbook 4: Chinese Stroke Order Rules: Practice the Rules, Not Just the Characters - Workbook 5: Look-Alike Chinese Characters: Spot the Difference ## How to use this book Five workbooks in one PDF. Learn how characters are built first, then read them in families and topics. Each Learn page shows a set of characters inside real words, then a practice page checks them. - Week 1: Stroke order. Workbook 4: the 8 strokes and 8 rules, so every character after this goes down in the right order. - Weeks 2–3: The first 100. Workbook 1: one component family a day. Say each word aloud as you read it, then do the practice page. - Weeks 4–5: The next 100. Workbook 2: one topic set every day or two. Finish with the final recall: 20 characters from memory and four sentences. - Week 6: Radicals. Workbook 3: a small set of radicals at a time, then use them to guess menu items, signs and new characters. - Week 7: Look-alikes. Workbook 5: the 13 sets that trip people up. Tick each set on the checklist once you can read it from memory. - Any time: Review. Use the radical lookup pages and the eight radical cards at the end of Workbook 3 to keep them fresh. ## Who it's for Beginners who can say some Mandarin and want to read and write characters, and learners who memorise characters one by one and keep forgetting them. Before you start: Reading pinyin helps. Every character comes with pinyin and a meaning, and Workbook 1 starts by explaining strokes, components and radicals. ## Is this the same as the five separate character workbooks? Yes. It puts all five in one 165-page PDF. Each is also in the library on its own if you only want one. ## Which 200 characters does it teach? Everyday ones, each inside a word you can use: 100 grouped by shared parts such as 亻, 口 and 氵, and 100 more grouped by topic: mouth words, speech and study, people, family, time, numbers, food, shopping, places and small everyday words. ## Do I have to write the characters? You can use most of it for reading. Workbook 4 is about writing in the right stroke order, and Workbook 2 ends with a recall page where you write 20 characters from memory. ## Is this workbook free? Yes. The whole 165-page PDF is free, and you can look through its pages here before you download. There's no card and nothing to pay. ## Do I need a SayMei account? Yes, to download the PDF, and the account is free: sign up with Google, Apple or your email address. With it we email you a copy of the workbook, keep every workbook you download on your account on all your devices, save your place in the free online practice, and you can practise speaking with Mei Lin, SayMei's AI tutor. ## How do I print it? The PDF is US Letter size. On A4 paper, choose "Fit to page" (or "Scale to fit") in the print dialog so nothing is cut off. Print the whole workbook or only the pages you need; colour looks best, and black and white works too. ## Can I print copies for my class? Yes. Print as many copies as you like for your own class or family. To share it, send this page: everyone can download their own copy. Version 2026-10, updated Oct 27, 2026.