Learn Chinese (Traditional) 🌸

你好！你好嗎？(Nǐ hǎo! Nǐ hǎo ma?) 👋 ! Here’s our curated content for training your passive understanding of the language.

Instructions (tap to open)

⏰ Time spent here also counts towards your streak.

Language competency consists of active vocabulary, but also passive vocabulary and natural pattern recognition. Train essential listening skills, understand grammar and morphing patterns.

Knowing Basic Phrases allows you to stay in the language instead of switching to English. Listening-Reading videos is a comfortable yet intense training of your listening skills. It also allows you to explore the country through videos.

If you want to really be comfortable, have lessons. What makes Lingophant unique is that you can create your 100% personalised vocabulary from conversations. 45 minutes per week with a friend or a teacher is already enough input for a constant stream of engaging sentences to practice between lessons.

📔 Basic Phrases

These phrases are the perfect point of departure for serious learners. They help you stay in the language, without needing to switch to English. And you internalize patterns.

Unlock them one-by-one in the app, and memorize them from the “Practice” tab.

Basic Phrases — 17 phrases
Introductions — 20 phrases
Useful Reactions — 24 phrases
Clarifications — 16 phrases
Learning Languages — 18 phrases
Interests, Opinions, Preferences — 23 phrases
Travel Phrases — 21 phrases
Smalltalk — 22 phrases
Politeness — 8 phrases

This is just to get you started. For personalized phrases, we recommend sessions of 45 minutes with a native speaker.

  • Know 300 phrases and you can make jokes and impress people
  • Know 600 phrases and you can hold basic conversations
  • Know 1000 phrases and you start communicating effortlessly

And because of working with audio, you’ll get compliments on your pronunciation a lot. We promise!

🎧 Train your listening skills with proper documentaries

We have selected enjoyable documentaries and reportage channels. Watch them, listen to the language, and build a natural intuition. Some polyglots swear by this method — 30 minutes a day builds working proficiency.

公共電視-獨立特派員 PTS INNEWS (239k subs)

公共電視-獨立特派員 PTS INNEWS (view channel) – 獨立特派員為公共電視台全方位新聞時事之深度報導節目，自2007年開播以來，秉持「抗權勢、說真話」精神，深入最具爭議性的新聞現場， 挑戰其他媒體迴避的敏感議題，為觀眾挖掘新聞事件背後鮮為人知的真相，發揮公共媒體的力量。「獨立的、深度的、調查的」簡單幾個字足以道出節目的自我期許。

Initium Media 端傳媒 (68k subs)

Initium Media 端傳媒 (view channel) – 端傳媒成立於2015年，專注原創深度報導，已獲得逾100項新聞及攝影大獎。端傳媒是靠會員付費訂閱維繫的獨立媒體機構，成為訂閱會員，支持華文世界不可或缺的深度報導和多元聲音。

志祺七七 (1.66m subs)

志祺七七 (view channel) – 🤝 如果你想與志祺七七合作，歡迎寫信到：hi77@simpleinfo.cc 與我們聯繫

鏡新聞 (759k subs)

鏡新聞 (view channel) – 更好的新聞　鏡新聞／鏡電視新聞台官方頻道

Focus全球新聞 Focus Global News (546k subs)

Focus全球新聞 Focus Global News (view channel) – 面對變動的世局，提供即時分析專業解讀

民視新聞網 Formosa TV News network (1.47m subs)

民視新聞網 Formosa TV News network (view channel) – 提供您最即時的新聞內容和影音

新唐人電視台 (1.36m subs)

新唐人電視台 (view channel) – 新唐人電視台 YouTube中文版官方新聞頻道(NTDChinese) 為中國新聞最完整的視頻網, 隨時提供中國在此關鍵時刻的即時新聞、熱點新聞與頭條新聞。

TFC 台灣事實查核中心 (29k subs)

TFC 台灣事實查核中心 (view channel) – 🏆2025年入圍第24屆卓越新聞獎

歪脑WHYNOT (46k subs)

歪脑WHYNOT (view channel) – 深度。视觉。无审查。

報導者 The Reporter (158k subs)

報導者 The Reporter (view channel) – 《報導者》是台灣第一個由公益基金會成立的網路媒體，營運經費皆來自民眾贊助，這股由下而上的力量，除了支持我們投入深度調查報導，並可不受政治、財團及廣告業主的干預，保持新聞獨立性。您的支持將有助於《報導者》持續追蹤國內外新聞事件的真相，促進多元進步的社會對話。請與我們一起前進，共同推動這場媒體小革命。

一席YiXi (397k subs)

一席YiXi (view channel) – YiXi is the leading brand for speech and presentation events in the Chinese-speaking region, sharing knowledge and insights on a wide range of topics to promote reflection and inspire its audience. Founded in 2012,YiXi has hosted theater-style speaking events in over a dozen central cities in the Chinese-speaking region, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Xi’an and more. These events have collectively featured over 1,000 outstanding individu

🎧 Train listening with weird popular YouTube videos

It’s like zapping TV through another linguistic and cultural universe. Watch what native speakers watch. We hope you find something interesting.

🧑‍🏫 Grammar overview in 9 chapters

Below is an overview of the most important grammar topics. Each chapter has a short explanation and recommended videos.

While memorizing phrases, you’ll likely recognize patterns from grammar. You can add a note or question to a card and get it answered next time you’re with a teacher.

Sentence-Final Particles (嗎、吧、啊、喔) A1

Chinese sentences often end with small particles that signal the speaker’s attitude, turn a statement into a question, or soften a command. The most common are: 嗎 (ma), which turns any statement into a yes/no question (你好 → 你好嗎？); 吧 (ba), which seeks agreement or expresses mild uncertainty (你是學生吧？ “You’re a student, right?”); 啊 (a) and 喔 (o), which soften or add warmth to a statement. These particles do not change word order — you simply attach them to the end.

A great learning technique is to take any declarative sentence you already know from the app and mentally rehearse adding 嗎 or 吧 to it, noticing how the meaning shifts. Once you master these particles, you will be able to ask natural yes/no questions, express tentative agreement, and sound far less robotic in real conversation — because nearly every spoken exchange in Mandarin ends with at least one of them.

Topic-Comment Sentence Structure A2

Unlike English, which is firmly subject-verb-object, Mandarin frequently puts the topic — whatever you are talking about — at the front of the sentence, then makes a comment about it. For example, 這個菜我不喜歡 literally means “This dish, I don’t like [it]” rather than “I don’t like this dish.” The topic does not have to be the grammatical subject; it is simply what the sentence is about. This structure is everywhere in everyday speech and is one of the key reasons Chinese can feel hard to parse for English speakers.

The best way to internalise this is to notice when a noun appears at the very start of a sentence before any verb or subject pronoun — that is almost certainly a topic. When reading phrases in the app, ask yourself “what is being talked about?” rather than hunting for a subject. Mastering topic-comment structure lets you understand and produce more natural, conversational sentences, including the very common pattern of stating a noun first and then commenting on its price, quality, or your feelings about it.

Aspect Markers 了、過、著 (Completed, Experienced, Ongoing) A2

Chinese does not conjugate verbs for tense, but it does mark aspect — the shape or status of an action. The three core markers are: 了 (le), placed directly after a verb to show completion (我吃了 “I ate / I have eaten”); 過 (guò), placed after a verb to indicate a life experience (我去過日本 “I have been to Japan before”); and 著 (zhe), placed after a verb to show an ongoing state or background action (她笑著說 “She said, smiling”). 了 is also used at the end of a sentence to signal a new situation or change of state, which is a separate but equally common use.

A useful mental shortcut: think of 了 as a “done” stamp, 過 as a “been there, done that” stamp, and 著 as a present-participle -ing ending. Because Chinese has no tense inflection, these three markers carry enormous communicative weight, and recognising them lets you immediately understand whether something is finished, experienced in the past, or still in progress — which is essential for following any narrative or practical conversation.

Measure Words (量詞) with Nouns and Numbers A1

In Chinese you cannot directly combine a number or demonstrative (這/那) with a noun; you always need a measure word (量詞) in between. The formula is Number + Measure Word + Noun: 一本書 (one [volume] book), 兩杯咖啡 (two [cup] coffees), 三隻狗 (three [animal] dogs). Each noun has one or more associated measure words — 個 (gè) is the universal fallback used for people and many general objects, so defaulting to 個 when you are unsure will rarely cause confusion.

The practical trick is to learn nouns together with their most common measure word as a fixed chunk, the way you learn vocabulary on the app. Start by anchoring 個 for people and general items, 杯 for drinks, 本 for books, and 張 for flat things like tickets and photos. Once this pattern clicks, you can correctly count and refer to any object in a shop, restaurant, or daily interaction — and your speech will immediately sound more natural and native-like.

Negation with 不 and 沒 (General vs. Past/Completed) A1

Chinese uses two main negation words, and choosing the right one depends on what you are negating. 不 (bù) negates present habits, general truths, future intentions, and adjectives: 我不喜歡咖啡 (I don’t like coffee), 他不來 (He’s not coming). 沒 (méi) negates completed actions and the verb 有 (to have): 我沒吃早餐 (I didn’t eat breakfast), 我沒有錢 (I don’t have money). Using 不 where 沒 is needed — or vice versa — is one of the most common learner errors and causes real confusion.

A simple rule of thumb: if you could put “yet” or “already” in the English sentence, or if you are talking about something that did or did not happen, use 沒. For everything else — feelings, preferences, habits, and intentions — use 不. Nailing this distinction lets you confidently deny, refuse, and explain yourself in virtually any everyday situation, from turning down food to explaining you haven’t done something yet.

The 是…的 Construction for Emphasising Past Details B1

When you want to emphasise the when, where, how, or with whom of a past action — rather than the action itself — Chinese uses the 是…的 frame. The verb goes between 是 and 的: 你是什麼時候來的？(When did you come?) 我是坐捷運來的 (I came by MRT). The action itself (coming) is assumed to have happened; what is in focus is the detail. 是 can often be dropped in informal speech, but 的 at the end is essential. This is distinct from the simple past use of 了.

Think of 是…的 as a spotlight frame — it shines a light on one specific detail of a past event. When you hear 的 at the end of a sentence describing something that clearly already happened, look backwards for the highlighted detail. Mastering this construction lets you ask and answer follow-up questions about past experiences naturally — things like “How did you get here?”, “Who did you go with?”, and “Where did you buy that?” — which are central to real conversational small talk.

The 把 Construction (Disposal of an Object) B1

The 把 (bǎ) construction moves the object of a verb to a position before the verb, emphasising what happens to that object as a result of the action. The pattern is Subject + 把 + Object + Verb + Result/Complement: 我把作業做完了 (I finished the homework [and it’s done]), 他把手機放在桌上 (He put his phone on the table). 把 is required whenever the verb involves moving, changing, disposing of, or affecting an object in a specific way. You cannot use 把 with simple perception or state verbs like 喜歡 or 知道.

A useful memory cue: 把 signals that the object is going to be “dealt with” — something deliberate is being done to it with a result. You will see it constantly in instructions, recipes, and directions: “把這個拿走” (Take this away), “把門關上” (Close the door). Recognising and producing 把 sentences unlocks your ability to give and follow instructions, describe chores and tasks, and understand a huge class of action-result sentences that are very common in both conversation and written Chinese.

Resultative Complements (Verb + Result) A2

Chinese verbs very commonly fuse with a second element that expresses the result or completion of the action, forming a tight two-syllable unit called a resultative complement (結果補語). Examples: 聽懂 (listen + understand = to understand by listening), 做完 (do + finish = to finish doing), 找到 (search + arrive = to find), 吃飽 (eat + full = to eat until full). Negation goes before the whole compound: 我沒聽懂 (I didn’t catch that / I didn’t understand). The potential form inserts 得 (can) or 不 (cannot) in the middle: 聽得懂 (can understand), 聽不懂 (cannot understand).

Treat these as vocabulary chunks rather than grammar puzzles — learn 聽懂, 做完, and 找到 as single units the same way you learn single words. The potential form with 得/不 in the middle is especially useful in conversation: 你看得懂嗎？ (Can you read/understand it?) is a phrase you will use and hear constantly. Once you recognise resultative complements, a whole layer of Chinese vocabulary suddenly makes sense, and you will be able to express whether actions succeeded, failed, or are possible — a crucial distinction for any practical exchange.

Modifying Nouns with 的 (Relative Clauses and Adjectives) A2

In Chinese, all modifiers — whether a single adjective, a possessive, or an entire clause — come before the noun and are linked to it with 的 (de). This means a relative clause works exactly like an adjective: 我買的書 (the book [that] I bought), 她做的菜 (the food she cooked), 很貴的餐廳 (a very expensive restaurant). There is no separate relative pronoun like “which” or “that” — you simply put the entire modifying phrase before the noun and attach 的. Possessives also follow this pattern: 我的 (my), 朋友的 (friend’s).

The key insight is that 的 is like a pointing arrow: everything to its left describes the noun to its right. When you encounter a long phrase before a noun, scan for 的 to find where the description ends and the noun begins. This single pattern is used in thousands of everyday sentences, and internalising it lets you both understand complex descriptions and build your own — essential for shopping (那個紅色的包包), storytelling (我認識的人), and virtually any descriptive conversation.