图 GraphChinese
Free first lesson

The GraphChinese Textbook

Free, interactive chapters: real dialogues with audio, tappable characters, grammar notes exactly where you need them, and widgets that show how a character is built. Ordered by the same dependency graph as the course.

Unit 1

  1. Meeting People 见面 HSK 1 Your first Chinese conversation: greet someone, trade names, and learn the answer-then-ask move that keeps any exchange going, built from just ten words. Read chapter →
  2. This Is My Friend 这是我朋友 HSK 1 李明 introduces 玛丽 to a classmate on their walk across campus: how to say who someone is, ask where they're from, and hand that same question straight back with 你呢. Read chapter →
  3. Who's in Your Family? 你家有谁 HSK 1 玛丽 shows 李明 a family photo and you learn to say who is in your family and whose is whose: 有 for what you have, 谁 for who someone is, and 的 for owning it. Read chapter →

Unit 2

  1. Numbers, Age, and Phone Numbers 你多大 HSK 1 李明 and 玛丽 trade ages and phone numbers, picking up ten words for counting, a small handful and an open string of digits, and the two different ways Chinese asks how many. Read chapter →
  2. What Time Works? 几点见 HSK 1 Pin down a time to meet in Chinese: clock times, the parts of the day, and the one rule that makes it easy, that the word for when goes in front of the verb while the verb itself never changes. Read chapter →
  3. Where's the Library? 图书馆在哪儿 HSK 1 玛丽 is lost on campus with a library book to return. 李明 walks her through saying exactly where things are, in front, behind, and inside, using ten new words. Read chapter →

Unit 3

  1. Ordering at the Noodle Shop 点菜 HSK 1 李明 takes 玛丽 to 陈阿姨's noodle shop and helps her order: ask what someone wants by dropping 什么 into the object seat, and offer a choice with A 还是 B, all in ten new words. Read chapter →
  2. I Want That One 我想要 HSK 1 小美 and 玛丽 window-shop on campus, and you learn to say what you like and want, and to size things up as big, small, hot, cold, or just plain pretty. Read chapter →
  3. What Are You Up To? 你在做什么 HSK 1 张伟 texts 李明 mid-errand: report what you are doing right now, what you just finished, and what you can do, using 在...呢 for now, 了 for done, and the two kinds of can, 会 and 能. Read chapter →
  4. Sorry, Wrong Number 打错了 HSK 1 玛丽 dials 李明 and reaches a total stranger instead, and the mix-up turns into ten words for saying no two different ways, asking yes-or-no two different ways, and making it right when you get it wrong. Read chapter →
  5. How's the Weather There? 天气怎么样 HSK 1 玛丽 video-calls her family and compares the weather in two cities: 怎么样 to ask how something is, 比 to line two things up, and 都 and 也 to sweep everyone into one warm sentence. Read chapter →

Unit 4

  1. At the Market 买东西 HSK 2 玛丽 heads to the market for 陈阿姨's noodle shop and haggles over fruit, picking up prices, big numbers, and the two measure words that count almost everything else you buy. Read chapter →
  2. Taking the 302 坐公交车 HSK 2 李明 coaches 玛丽 onto the right bus across town: 从 and 到 for where a trip starts and ends, 向 for the way it heads, 离 for how far apart two places sit, and 第一站 for where to get off, in ten new words. Read chapter →
  3. First This, Then That 周末的安排 HSK 2 Map out a packed day in Chinese: chain actions in order with 先, 再, and 然后, stack verbs in a row the way 坐公共汽车去看朋友 does, and use the tight 一...就... to say one thing happens the moment another does. Read chapter →
  4. Have You Ever Been? 你去过吗 HSK 2 小美 shows 玛丽 photos from a boat trip, and you learn to ask about experiences with 过, freeze a scene into a standing state with 着, and set a picture with existential sentences like 桌子上放着票, in ten new words. Read chapter →

Unit 5

  1. Let's Play Ball 打球 HSK 2 张伟 drags 玛丽 onto the basketball court and narrates the action live, using softened doubled verbs, vivid doubled adjectives, and 正在...呢 to say what is happening this very second. Read chapter →
  2. I Don't Feel Well 生病了 HSK 2 张伟 overtrained and feels awful, and 李明 nudges him toward a doctor: 可能 to hedge a guess, 可以 to say what is allowed, 别 for a soft 'don't', the weather sentences 今天晴天 and 明天阴天 that skip 是, and the tags 好吗, 是不是, and 吧 that turn a nag into a check-in. Read chapter →