Learn Chinese Chinesimple HSK3

You know how to say “birthday” in Chinese. How would you say “It’s his birthday today, so we bought a cake”?

Build on your Mandarin with Chinesimple, Khanji School’s app for learning Chinese. In the HSK 3 course, you’ll use sentences you already understand to say what happened, explain a decision or give advice. Explanations in English help you see how the ideas fit together and put them into your own words.

FROM ONE IDEA TO THE NEXT

You might already recognise 生日 (shēngrì), meaning “birthday”. Now read the whole sentence: 今天是他的生日，所以我们买了一个蛋糕 (“It’s his birthday today, so we bought a cake”). Look at 所以 (suǒyǐ), meaning “so”. First we give the reason: it’s his birthday. After 所以, we say what we did: we bought a cake.

Here’s another example: 如果累了，就休息 (“If you’re tired, have a rest”). The first part states a condition and the second gives advice. Think of someone you might say that to and try saying it aloud.

LISTEN AND FOLLOW THE THREAD

Listen to a native speaker say the birthday sentence. Why did we buy the cake? Listen again and see if you can pick out the word that links the reason to what we did.

If you lose the thread because of an unfamiliar word, look it up in the Chinese dictionary. Check its meaning, use pinyin to guide your pronunciation and listen to the whole sentence again.

MAKE A SENTENCE OF YOUR OWN

Sometimes you recognise an expression on the page, but it won’t come to mind when you want to use it. Add it to a flashcard deck and revisit it over time with spaced repetition. Now think of something you did today. Use the birthday sentence as a model: give the reason first, then add 所以 followed by what you did.

If you find it hard to tell one character from another, look at its stroke order and try writing it yourself. Then see if you can spot it in the sentence.

PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF

Move on to the next course module or spend a few minutes reviewing. Daily practice suggests what to work on next. You can track your progress and see how many days in a row you’ve studied.

PREPARE FOR HSK 3

If you’re preparing for the HSK 3 exam, practise with vocabulary, sentences and exercises at this level. Check whether you understand the full meaning of a sentence when you read or hear it, then revisit the parts you find tricky.

GET STARTED

Try the birthday sentence in Chinesimple. Listen to it, find the word that connects the two ideas and save it to review later. You can do it all in one app.