Characters stop looking like tangles once you can name their parts. This page practices eight commonly taught stroke families — 点 (diǎn, dot), 横 (héng, horizontal), 竖 (shù, vertical), 撇 (piě, left-falling), 捺 (nà, right-falling), 提 (tí, rising), 折 (zhé, turn) and 钩 (gōu, hook) — then the components those movements build: 永, 人, 口, 女, 子, 心, 手, 水, 火, 木, 日, 月, 言, 食 and 金.
永 is the classic drill
Calligraphers have used 永 (yǒng, eternal) for centuries as a one-character review of the fundamental movements, a tradition known as 永字八法, the eight principles of 永. Writing it slowly once at the start of a session is a better warm-up than reciting any list of names.
折 and 钩 are turns, not extra marks
This is where beginners miscount. A 折 is a change of direction inside one continuous stroke, and a 钩 is a flick at the end of one. The top-right corner of 口 is a single 横折 written without lifting the pen, which is why 口 has three strokes and not four. 女 has three for the same reason, and 心 has four, one of them a reclining hook. Stroke counts are not trivia: dictionaries, indexes and handwriting input all depend on them.
A radical rarely keeps its full shape
Six characters here change form when they move to the left of a compound. 水 becomes 氵 in 河 and 汽, 手 becomes 扌 in 打 and 找, 心 becomes 忄 in 快 and 忙, 言 becomes 讠 in 说 and 请, 食 becomes 饣 in 饭 and 饿, and 金 becomes 钅 in 钱 and 银. Learners who only meet the standalone characters read straight past the radical in a new word. Notice what 提 is doing in two of them: the last stroke of 扌 and the third stroke of 氵 both rise, aimed at whatever comes next on the right.
The ordering rules follow from the strokes themselves: 横 before 竖 in 十, 撇 before 捺 in 人, top before bottom, left before right, and an enclosure closes last, so the inside of 日 is written before its final 横. Classifications differ between teaching systems, so treat eight as a practical grouping rather than the only possible count; the stroke-by-stroke construction option comes from the hanzi-writer dataset. Print blank 田字格 grid paper for open practice, then move to the First Characters sheet once the strokes feel steady.
Words on this worksheet: 点 (diǎn) — spot; 横 (héng) — harsh and unreasonable, perverse; 竖 (shù) — to erect; 撇 (piē) — to cast away; 捺 (nà) — to press down firmly; 提 (tí) — carry; 折 (zhé) — fracture; 钩 (gōu) — to hook; 永 (yǒng) — forever; 人 (rén) — people; 口 (kǒu) — mouth; 女 (nǚ) — woman; 子 (zi) — noun suffix (table); 心 (xīn) — heart, feeling, centre, core; 手 (shǒu) — hand; 水 (shuǐ) — water; 火 (huǒ) — fire, anger, temper; 木 (Mù) — surname Mu; 日 (rì) — date; 月 (yuè) — month; 言 (yán) — words; 食 (shí) — to eat; 金 (jīn) — gold. See also:
Chinese Radicals List (214) ·
HSK 3.0 Handwriting Characters.
Hear these words in beginner Mandarin songs.
Frequently asked questions
Is this worksheet free to download as a PDF?
Yes. The Radicals & Eight Basic Strokes worksheet is free to print or save as a PDF, with no account or email needed. Press Print / Download PDF: on a computer the PDF opens ready to print or save, and on a phone it goes to your share sheet. A4 or US Letter follows your country.
What level is this worksheet?
It suits learners from about HSK 3. That is an editorial estimate for the Radicals & Eight Basic Strokes topic, not an official HSK word list, so a few of its 23 words may be harder. Each word prints with tone-marked pinyin and an English meaning to help.
Can I print copies for my class?
Yes. Print as many copies as you like — it's free. For a class set, press Change the words and open More options to add an answer key, a class line or a dictation page; the Student PDF leaves the key out. Test turns the sheet into a quiz.
Can I change the words or use traditional characters?
Yes. Press Change the words to open this sheet in the generator, then add, remove or replace words, up to 20 per sheet. Set Characters to Traditional to switch the whole sheet to traditional characters; a word with no verified traditional form stays as you typed it.
How should I practice with this worksheet?
Trace the gray guides first, saying each word aloud, then cover the model and write the characters from memory in the blank boxes. Scan the sheet's QR code or open the Practice tab to watch each stroke animate, trace it, then recall it without a guide. Revisit missed words a day or two later.