Mandarin grammar: Strokes

Part ofMandarinMandarin grammar

Mandarin characters are formed with strokes.

How many strokes are there in Mandarin?

There are around thirty strokes in total in Mandarin. Here are some of the basic strokes:

NameInstruction
diǎnsmall dash
héngleft to right
shùdown
piěfall left and curve
nàfall right and flatten
tíflick up and right
shù gōudown with a hook at the end

For many centuries the character yǒng (forever) has been used to practice writing characters correctly, as it contains each of the basic strokes listed above:

The Mandarin character 永 yǒng (forever) contains each of the basic strokes.

How do you write strokes in Mandarin?

Strokes are written in a certain order in Mandarin to make characters quicker and easier to complete, and to help make them look the same each time:

1. Top to bottom

2. Left to right

3. Horizontal then vertical

4. Intersecting (a line that crosses another line) stroke last

5. Diagonal right to left

6. Diagonal left to right

7. Outside frame before inside

8. Inside before closing frame

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