Free B1 Chinese course: intermediate

B1 is about saying what you mean with nuance: 被 for the passive, 把 with complements, 连…都, 不管, 只要 and 只有, rhetorical questions, particles and your first chengyu.

18 grammar lessons, 3 graded stories, 6 videos, flashcards and an AI conversation partner, all free. B1 is roughly HSK 4; the two scales measure different things, so treat it as a guide.

What you'll be able to do

• Listening: I can follow the main points of clear conversations on familiar topics at work, school or in my free time (about HSK 4).
• Listening: I can understand the gist of short videos and TV programmes on familiar subjects when people speak clearly.
• Reading: I can read simple texts in characters on everyday topics and look up the unknown characters without losing the thread.
• Speaking: I can deal with most situations while travelling in China, including problems with tickets, rooms or orders.
• Speaking: I can tell a story, describe an experience and give reasons for my opinions and plans.
• Writing: I can write a simple connected text in characters about something I've done or something that interests me.

What you'll learn

Learning B1 Chinese with AI

At B1 you can rent a flat, return a faulty purchase or sit a job interview in Shanghai with the AI partner, in natural but clear Mandarin. Pinyin only when you ask. The AI also explains any wrong answer in a lesson, in plain English. It's included free, with a daily allowance; like any AI it can make mistakes, so the lessons remain the reference. More about learning Chinese with AI.

All 18 B1 grammar lessons

Free to read here. In the app, each one is taught in short steps with audio, practised, and brought back for review.

1. 被: the passive (and spoken 叫, 让)
2. 把 with results and complements
3. Complements beyond direction: 起来, 下去, 出来, 下来
4. 连…都/也: even
5. 除了…以外: except and besides
6. 不管 and 无论: no matter
7. 只要…就 and 只有…才: as long as, only if
8. Adding: 不但…而且, 既…又, 又…又, 一边…一边
9. 越来越 and 越…越: more and more
10. Rhetorical questions: 难道…吗, 不是…吗, 怎么能…呢
11. Double negatives: 不得不, 非…不可, 不是不
12. Question words as 'any' and 'every': 谁都, 什么都不, 怎么也
13. Prepositions: 对, 对于, 关于, 为了, 给, 跟, 向, 往
14. Cause and result: 由于, 因此, 于是, 结果, 既然…就
15. Big numbers: 万, 亿, 百分之, and estimates
16. Sentence particles: 吧, 呢, 啊, 嘛, 啦
17. Four-character expressions (成语): a first set
18. Giving opinions: 觉得, 认为, 看来, 在我看来, 据说

Words for B1

HSK 4 vocabulary list, with pinyin and examples (B1): 615 words with pinyin, English and an example sentence.

Reading at B1

• 宿舍里的四个人: Four first-year students from four corners of China share a dorm room in Xi'an, and learn to live together.
• 下雨天的外卖: On a stormy evening in Shanghai, a delivery rider climbs six floors with a bowl of noodles and meets a kind old lady.
• 小梅和小兰: In a Shanghai teahouse, Grandpa Zhang tells the story of the photo, and Lin Xiaoyu recognises one of the girls.

Listening at B1

• Work and society (Chinese Zero to Hero): A slow narration about food-delivery riders in China. It covers stories of riders helping strangers, the two big platforms (Meituan and Ele.me) and why takeaway is so popular. It then turns to riders' pay and pressure, plastic waste, and graduates taking the job, and asks whether robots or drones will replace them.
• Travel: Xi'an (Chinese Zero to Hero): A 2018 vlog from the lantern show on Xi'an's city wall. He buys a 60-yuan ticket at the South Gate and explains what the barbican (wengcheng) was for. On the wall are a giant glowing dog, dinosaurs, cartoon animals, opera masks and a Van Gogh–style display. He ends with a beer outside the walls.
• Age, happiness and freedom (Lazy Chinese): The Lazy Chinese teacher explains why she felt old and anxious at 25 but is happy at 33. She moved to Australia at 27 and decided not to have children. She describes Epicurus's three ingredients for happiness (friendship, freedom and the ability to think) and gives her view on 'moral blackmail' in Chinese culture.
• School and teachers (Lazy Chinese): The teacher looks back on being a good but rebellious student who told teachers when they were wrong. At university she texted an unprepared Japanese grammar teacher to say she wouldn't come any more. She spent the term sleeping and sitting in on English and Chinese classes instead.
• Food and its history (Lazy Chinese): Living abroad, the teacher misses Shaxian snacks most: mild everyday food from a county near her hometown in Fujian. She tells how informal lending circles, gambling and debts pushed Shaxian people to open snack shops all over China. She describes how hard the couples who run them work and what to order.
• Moving abroad (Lazy Chinese): The Lazy Chinese teacher interviews Qiaoqiao. She and her programmer husband gave up a joint income of about 1.5 million yuan in Shanghai to move to Berlin, because of his long hours, her boring job and the three-month lockdown in Shanghai. She also talks about family reactions, first impressions of Berlin and why freedom now matters most.

Questions