chinesehsk 1in 30 days
All 306 words of HSK 1, in bites of one to three minutes. Tap, hear, write, play.
- free, no sign-up
- covers the classic and the new HSK 1
- native audio · stroke order · games · exams
- 0 xp
- 0 day streak
- 0 / 306 words met
- 0 cards due
- 0 / 30 dots
pick your pace
People who decide when and how much stick with it far more often. Pick one: you can change it any time.
No pace picked yet. Steady is a great start.
your path
30 dots in 6 units. Every lesson is open, so jump anywhere. The pink dot is your next one.
unit 1 · hello & me
unit 2 · family & people
unit 3 · time, meals & money
unit 4 · things & places
unit 5 · fun, school & talk
unit 6 · put it together
why tiny bites work
you remember what you retrieve
Every few taps you recall, not just reread. Pulling a word out of memory is what makes it stay.
small wins keep you going
Each bite ends with a filled dot. Lots of small finishes beat one long session you never start.
spaced, not crammed
Cards come back after 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 days: just as you’re about to forget them.
hands help memory
Writing a character stroke by stroke gives your brain a second route to it.
free tools
- all 306 words
Search, filter by day or by the old/new HSK list, hear every word.
- card play
Flip cards that come back just before you forget, a memory match and a 60-second speed round.
- writing studio
Every character with animated stroke order. Trace it, then write it from memory.
- word lab
Connect two character dots to build a real word: 电 + 脑 = computer.
- tone trainer
Hear a syllable, pick its tone. Endless rounds, real recordings.
- practice exams
Two full HSK 1-style exams: 40 questions, scored out of 200, every answer explained.
print & share
Branded PDFs to print, stick on the fridge or send to a friend who wants to learn with you.
questions & answers
Is this really free?
Yes. Every lesson, game, exam and PDF is free, with no sign-up and no ads. Your progress is saved in your own browser, so nothing about you is stored by us.
Which HSK 1 does this cover, the old one or the new one?
Both. It teaches all 300 words of the new HSK 1 (HSK 3.0, syllabus published November 2025) plus the 6 extra words of the classic 150-word HSK 1 that most 2026 test dates still use. On the word list you can filter by either.
How long does it take?
About 20 minutes a day for 30 days. Pick the light pace (about 10 minutes, half a day at a time) and it takes about two months; pick sprint and you can finish in about two weeks. Every day is split into small bites of 1 to 3 minutes, so you can stop between any two.
Do I really need to learn to write characters?
The HSK 1 exam has no writing section, but writing a character by hand is one of the best ways to remember it, and the new HSK lists characters to handwrite from levels 1 and 2. We teach the 95 of them that appear in HSK 1, with stroke-order animations and tracing.
What are pinyin and tones?
Pinyin is Chinese written with Latin letters, so you can read the sound. Tones are the pitch of each syllable: mā (high), má (rising), mǎ (dip), mà (falling). A different tone is a different word, which is why every syllable here gets a tone colour.
Will this get me through the HSK 1 exam?
It covers the HSK 1 vocabulary and grammar, and two practice exams copy the real layout (20 listening and 20 reading questions, scored out of 200, with 120 to pass). We can’t promise a result, and this is not official HSK material, but if you score well on both practice exams you are in good shape.
Where is my progress saved?
In this browser only. Private browsing or clearing your browsing data deletes it. To move to another device, use “back up my progress” at the bottom of the course page.
Are the voices real people?
Most words are recorded by a native Mandarin speaker (Yue Tan, Shtooka project, CC BY-SA). Full sentences use your device’s own Chinese voice; if your device has none, we tell you instead of failing silently.
Simplified or traditional characters?
Simplified, the characters used in mainland China and in the HSK exam.
back up my progress
Your progress lives in this browser. Copy the code to move it to another phone or computer, then paste it there.