Basics · Chapter 4Strokes and stroke order

Every character is written with a few kinds of strokes in a fixed order. The order matters: the character comes out balanced, is easier to remember and to read in handwriting.

Basic strokes

See how they combine in 永 — this character contains almost every kind of stroke:

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

Seven stroke-order rules

  1. Horizontal before vertical: 十
    1. 1
    2. 2
  2. Left-falling before right-falling: 人
    1. 1
    2. 2
  3. Top to bottom: 三
  4. Left to right: 你 — 亻 first, then 尔.
  5. Outside before inside: 月
  6. Inside first, then close the frame: 国
    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
    4. 4
    5. 5
    6. 6
    7. 7
    8. 8
  7. Middle before the sides: 小
    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3

Practise in the worksheet generator — every row shows the steps with arrows.

Exercises

1. Which stroke comes first?

  1. 十
    Answer
    the horizontal 一
  2. 八
    Answer
    the left-falling 丿
  3. 口
    Answer
    the left vertical 丨
  4. 小
    Answer
    the middle vertical hook

2. Write them in a worksheet

  1. 📝 十 人 三 口 月 国 小 永
    Answer
    Print the sheet and write each character 5–8 times.

Phrase audio — Microsoft speech synthesis (voices Xiaoxiao, Yunyang, Yunxi); syllables and some words — native recordings (audio-cmn, CC BY-SA).