HSK 1 Grammar Study Guide
HSK 1 grammar gives beginners a practical base for simple Mandarin statements, questions, numbers, time, and everyday descriptions.
About the author
Luke McLaughlin created Constructing Language after living in Japan and later learning Mandarin Chinese from scratch. The lessons, games, and guides are built from that first-hand learner experience and checked against native-speaker course work with Hiro for Japanese and Xiang for Mandarin Chinese.
- Lived in Japan and studied Japanese through immersion and structured self-study.
- Learned Mandarin Chinese from scratch as an adult learner.
- Created the Construction Method: audio-first sentence building, grammar graphics, and active recall.
- Built Japanese course material with Hiro and Mandarin course material with Xiang, both native-speaker collaborators.
The HSK 1 grammar core
HSK 1 focuses on simple statements, questions, negation, numbers, time, measure words, location phrases, and common verbs.
- Word order: subject, time, place, verb, object.
- Questions with 吗, 什么, 谁, 哪儿, and 几.
- Negation with 不 and 没.
How to practise HSK 1 grammar
Use short sentences, swap one part at a time, and say each version aloud. Grammar becomes useful when you can produce it, not just recognise it.