have already learned. It is written in three strokes. stroke. The second stroke is a horizontal stroke.

Transcription

1 Lesson 10 Characters Step-by-Step 吃 chī eat has a horizontal orientation and is written from left to right. The left part of 吃 chī is the radical 口. We have seen it in several characters that we have already learned. It is written in three strokes. The right side of 吃 chī is written in three strokes. The first stroke is a left falling stroke. The second stroke is a horizontal stroke. The third stoke begins as a horizontal stroke, falls to the left, continues as a curved stroke, and ends with an upward hook. 當 dāng has vertical orientation and is written in thirteen strokes. The top part of 當 is written in three strokes. The first stroke is the central stroke and it is a vertical stroke. The second stroke is the stroke on the left side. It is a right falling dot. The third stroke is the stroke on the right. It is a left falling stroke. The next part of 當 is written in two strokes: a dot, followed by a horizontal stroke with a downward hook. The third part of is a box.

2 Below the box is another box with the character 十 inside. Remember to fill in the box before closing the box. 都 dōu has a horizontal orientation and is written in eleven stokes. The left part is written first. It is written from top to bottom and it consists of two parts. The first stroke is a horizontal stroke, the second stroke is a vertical stroke, the third stroke is a horizontal stroke that completes the top half. Notice that it may touch the vertical stroke but it does not go through it. The next stroke is a left falling stroke that goes through the bottom horizontal stroke. The remaining four strokes are a box with a horizontal stroke inside. The last stroke of the box is the closing stroke. The right side of 都 is the radical 阝. It is written in three strokes. The first stroke is a horizontal stroke with an upward slant that turns into a left falling stroke. The second stroke is a curved stroke with an upward hook.

3 The third stroke is a vertical stroke. Note: There are two radicals with this shape. One is written on the left side of a character, and one is written on the right. 多 duō has a vertical orientation and is written in six strokes. The top part of the character is the radical and is written in three strokes. The first stroke is a left falling stroke. The second stroke is a left to right horizontal stroke the turns into a left falling stroke. The third stroke is a right falling dot. The bottom half of 多 is identical to the top half. It is aligned with the top so that if a vertical line were written straight through the character it would divide the character in half. 飯 fàn has a horizontal orientation and is written in twelve stokes. The left side is the radical and it is written first. The first stroke is a left falling stroke. The next two strokes are dots. The next stroke is a right corner stroke.

4 The next two strokes are horizontal strokes. The first is written from left to right inside of the right corner. The second is written from left to right, ending at the bottom of the right corner stroke. The next stroke is a vertical stroke that turns into a rising stroke. It is followed by a dot. The right side of 饭 is written in four strokes. The first stroke is a left falling stroke. The second stroke is a longer left falling stroke. The third stroke is a horizontal stroke that turns into a left falling stroke. The last stroke is a right falling stroke. 會 huì has a vertical orientation and is written in thirteen strokes. The first stroke is a left falling stroke. The second stroke is a right falling stroke that begins just below the top of the previous stroke.

5 The next stroke is a horizontal stroke centered below the top two strokes. It does not go through the top two strokes. The next two strokes are a vertical stroke and a right corner stroke written inside of the two two strokes but below the horizontal stroke. Together they form an open box. The next stroke is a vertical stroke written from the top center of the open box. It is the same height as the sides of the box and it divides the box into two sections. The next strokes are a dot written in the left section of the open box, a left falling stroke written in the right section of the open box, and a horizontal stroke that closes the box. The remaining four strokes form the radical 日 that we have seen in the characters 是, 早, and 明, and that we will see in the character 晚 below. 老 lǎo is a radical. It has a vertical orientation and is written in six strokes. The first four strokes are written in the same way as the first four strokes in the left part of 都 presented above.

6 The fifth stroke is a left falling stroke. The sixth stroke begins as a vertical stroke and turns into a curved stroke that ends in an upward hook. 了 le has a vertical orientation and is written in two strokes. The first stroke begins as a slightly rising horizontal stroke and turns into a left falling stroke. The second stroke is a horizontal stroke that ends with a left-facing upward hook. 沒 méi has a horizontal orientation and is written in seven strokes. The left side of the character is the radical 氵 and it is written first. 氵 is written in three strokes from top to bottom. The first stroke is a right falling dot. The second stroke is also a right falling dot. The third stroke is an upward stroke. It starts at the bottom and is written upwards, moving from left to right. The right side of 没 consists of two pieces and is written from top to bottom. The top is written in two strokes, a left falling stroke, followed by a right corner stroke that ends in a upward, left hook.

7 The bottom is written in two strokes, a horizontal stroke that turns into a left falling stroke, and a right falling stroke. 去 qù has vertical orientation and is written in five strokes. The first stroke is a horizontal stroke. The second stroke is a vertical stroke. The third stroke is a horizontal stroke, longer than the first one, that runs under the vertical stroke. The next two strokes form the radical. They are a left falling stroke that turns into a rising stroke, and a right falling dot. 然 rán has vertical orientation and is written in twelve strokes. The top half of 然 has two parts written from left to right in eight strokes. The left half is written in four strokes. The first stroke is a right falling stroke, the second stroke starts as a left-to-right horizontal stroke and turns into a right falling stroke. Within the enclosure formed by the first two strokes are two right falling dots. The second half of 然 also has four strokes. The first stroke is a horizontal stroke. The second stroke is a left falling stroke. The third stroke is a right falling stroke, and the last stroke is a dot written over and to the right of the horizontal stroke.

8 The last four strokes of 然 are dots and together they form the radical. The first dot is a left falling dot. The last three are right falling dots. 少 shǎo is written in four strokes. The first four strokes form the radical, the character 小 that we learned in lesson 9. The last stroke is a left falling stroke. It begins around the midpoint of the right dot and it falls below the radical and past the left dot. 生 shēng is a radical. It has a vertical orientation and is written in five strokes. The first stroke is a left falling stroke. The second stroke is a horizontal stroke. It begins just above the midpoint of the left falling stroke. The third stroke is also a horizontal stroke. The fourth stroke is a vertical stroke. The last stroke is the horizontal stroke that closes the character. Notices that it may touch the vertical stroke but it does not go through it. 師 shī has a horizontal orientation and is written in ten strokes. The left side is written first. The first two strokes are a left falling stroke followed by a vertical

9 stroke that begins at about the endpoint of the falling stroke. The next four strokes form a pair of small boxes along the vertical stroke. They are written from top to bottom as a right corner stroke followed by a horizontal stroke that closes the first box, and a right corner stroke followed by a horizontal stroke that closes the second box. The right side is written in four strokes. The first stroke is a horizontal stroke. The remaining three strokes form the radical, 巾. It is written with a vertical stroke, a right corner stroke that ends with a left facing hook, and a vertical stroke that goes through the center of the right corner stroke. Notice that the final vertical stroke may touch the horizontal stroke above it but it does not go through it. 晚 wǎn has a horizontal orientation and is written in eleven strokes. The radical is on the left and is written first in four strokes. The first stroke is a vertical stroke. The second strong is a right corner stroke. The third stroke is a horizontal stroke written about halfway down and inside of the enclosure made by the first two strokes. It may touch the lines that form the enclosure but it does not go through them. The last stroke is the closing stroke, a horizontal stroke written from left to right.

10 The right side of 晚 has a vertical orientation and is written in seven strokes. The first stroke is a left falling stroke. The second stroke is a horizontal stroke that turns into a left falling stroke. These two strokes form the same shape as the first two strokes of the character 然 above. The next three strokes form a rectangular box. The next stroke is a left falling stroke that starts inside of the box and falls to the left. The last stroke is a vertical stroke with a curve to the right that ends in an upward facing hook. 學 xué has a vertical orientation and is written in three parts from top to bottom in sixteen strokes. The first strokes form the pair of x s in the center of the top part of the character. Each x is written as a left falling stroke followed by a dot. The next strokes form the enclosure for the x s. The left side is written first: a left falling stroke, a vertical stroke, and two short horizontal strokes that begin on the right side of the horizontal stroke.

11 The right side is written next in three strokes: a horizontal stroke that turns into a vertical stroke, and two short horizontal strokes that begin inside of the enclosure and end at the right vertical stroke. This top part of 學 is followed by a two-stroke section: a dot followed by a horizontal stroke that ends with a left, downward hook. horizontal stroke starts below the top of the dot. Notice that the The third part of is the radical 子 and it is written in three strokes. The first two strokes are written the same way as 了 above. The third stroke is a horizontal stroke that crosses at the intersection of the two previous strokes. 怎 zěn has a vertical orientation and is written in nine strokes. The top part of 怎 is written in five strokes. The first two strokes are a left falling stroke followed by a horizontal stroke. The remaining three strokes are a vertical stroke and two horizontal strokes that begin on the right side of the vertical stroke. Notice that the last horizontal stroke starts before the bottom of the vertical stroke. The second part 怎 of is the radical 心. It is written in four strokes, a dot, a

12 reclining curved stroke that ends with an upward hook, a dot inside the curve, and a dot outside the curve.