Free Online Chinese Lessons

This is the ultimate collection of the best free Chinese lessons for beginners. If you are looking for quick, free, and easy-to-understand Chinese lessons online to start your Mandarin learning journey in 2023, then you just found the right place.

online Chinese lessons

Online Beginner Chinese Lessons (+ LOTS of Free Learning Tips)

Starting Chinese learning in 2023 can mark the beginning of an exciting journey. The rising popularity of online Chinese lessons now makes it possible for you to learn this beautiful language from the comfort of your own home.

Thankfully, there are more free learning resources online than ever before due to the pandemic. The downside is that many of those free Chinese lessons out there are junk.

Most lessons don’t give enough details. They throw in a bunch of “preset” Chinese sentences with translations and don’t explain how to actually form them and use them. There’s zero chance you’ll be able to hold a real conversation after finishing those lessons. You are left at sea. 

They. Simply. Don’t. Work.

Let’s be real, you don’t need another phrasebook. You need detail to understand how Chinese works in its entirety, so you can figure out how to say what you want to say from day one.

And that’s not complicated. No need to stress.

With over 50K readers every month, we’re one of the world’s biggest websites about Chinese learning. We’ve helped thousands of people start learning Chinese, improve their Chinese skills, and achieve their goals.

And in this guide, we draw on our expertise to present the best online Chinese lessons for beginners trying to get started from nothing.

These introductory Chinese lessons cover the various areas of basic Chinese: pronunciation, conversation, vocabulary, and grammar. Each lesson is complete with detailed, yet easy-to-follow explanations on all essential language points. Best of all, they won’t cost you a dime. All you have to do is follow the framework and start learning!

3X Your Chinese Progress!

To serious learners: 

Feel free to dip your toes with our free introductory lessons. But if you’re ready to get serious and want to become conversationally fluent in Chinese, you really need to take a structured course with a real teacher!

We’ve done our research and handpicked the best Chinese courses online. Find the best course for you to skyrocket your studying success!

View All Chinese Lessons

Check out our free online Chinese lessons designed for beginners to get a head start on your Mandarin learning journey. We’ve also included valuable learning tips. Enjoy!

Lesson 22

Comparing Things in Chinese

How do you say when someone is smarter than another, or taller than another, or less beautiful than another? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to compare two people or two things that aren’t equal as well as superlatives (who is the smartest?)

Lesson 22

Lesson 23

Asking for Directions in Chinese

Where’s the famous dim sum restaurant? Where is a public restroom? Learn how to ask for directions in Chinese before you start packing. Simply learn these essential keywords and phrases because you’ll always need to get somewhere!

Lesson 23

Lesson 24

Ordering in a Restaurant

Get a crash course in how to order in a Chinese restaurant using “xiǎng” and “yào”(want). You’ll learn some useful food & drink vocabulary, and how to catch the waiter or waitress’s attention when you need to. (It’s different than how you do it in English.)

Lesson 24
Scroll to Top