dì yī kè
第一课 
Lesson 1
                                        hàn zì bǐ huà
                                        汉 字 笔 画
                         Strokes of Chinese Characters 


Chinese characters are written by combining various kinds of "strokes". These strokes can be divided into "basic" strokes and "combined" strokes.

汉字是由不同的笔画结合而成的。笔画可以划分为基本笔画和复合笔画。 

Basic strokes of Chinese characters 汉字基本笔画

Stroke	Name	Example	Way to write
丶	diǎn	门	The dot is written from top to bottom-right, as in the second stoke of “门”
一	héng	大	The horizontal strokes is written from left to right
丨	shù	木	The vertical stroke is written from top downward to bottom, as in the second stroke of “木”
丿	piě	力	The downward-left stroke is written from top to bottom-left, as in the first stroke of “力”
	nà	八	The downward-right stroke is written from top to bottom-right, as in the second stroke of “八”
	tí	我	The upward stroke is written from bottom-left to top-right, as in the fourth stroke of “我”

Combined character strokes 汉字复合笔画

Stroke	Name	Example	Way to write
乛	héng gōu	你	The horizontal stroke with a hook, is written like the fourth stroke in “你”
┐	héng zhé	马	The horizontal stroke with a downward turn, is written like the first stroke in “马”
	héng piě	又	The horizontal stroke with a downward turn to the left, is written like the first stroke in “又”
	héng zhé gōu	门	The horizontal stroke with a downward turn and a hook, is written like the third stroke in “门”
	héng zhé tí	语	The horizontal stroke with a downward turn, and then an upward turn to the right, is written like the second stroke like in “语”
亅	shù gōu	丁	The vertical stroke with a hook, is written like the second stroke in “丁”
∟	shù zhé	山	The vertical stroke with a horizontal turn to the right, is written like the second stroke in “山”
し	shù tí	以	The vertical stroke with a upward turn to the right, is written like the first stroke in “以”
ㄅ	shù zhé zhé gōu	马	The vertical stroke with a horizontal turn to the right, and then a downward turn and a hook, is written like the second stroke in “马”
乙	héng zhé wān gōu	九	The vertical stroke with a horizontal turn, and then a horizontal turn to the right and a upward hook, is written like the second stroke in “九”
ㄥ	piě zhé	么	The downward stroke to the left, and then a horizontal turn to the right, is written like the second stroke in “么”
ㄑ	piě diǎn	女	The downward stroke to the left and then an extended dot to the right, is written like the first stroke in “女”