HSK 1 Grammar and Reading

Chinese has very few rules. Here are all of them for HSK Level 1.

The characters are in Book 2 of this series. This book is about what happens when they meet: the small set of rules by which words become sentences. It follows the Level 1 grammar list of the HSK syllabus in force from July 2026, row by row, and gives every point on it two pages: the pattern in a box, four sentences before any rule, the rule in plain words, more sentences, a Watch out box for the slip a Hindi or English speaker is about to make, and three drills. Every answer is at the back.

Then it gives you things to read: fifteen pieces of real life, one for each of the fifteen task groups of the exam. A student card. A message on a phone. A price tag, a timetable, a menu. Each with a short story, a line-by-line key, new words, questions, and a few lines to write about yourself.

Every sentence is written four ways, Hanzi, pinyin, Devanagari and IPA, with its meaning in English and Hindi. Where Hindi word order matches Chinese, the book tells you to trust your instinct. Where it does not, it warns you. All 300 words of Level 1 are used in the book and listed at the back, with the spread that first uses each one.

Inside: 43 grammar spreads in three Parts (the shapes of a sentence; the words that do the work; time, money and change), 15 readings, 129 drills with answers, a one-page sheet for each Part, the exam’s grammar list mapped to the book, the 300 words, and the master sound table.