HSK 4: What Level 4 Covers
HSK 4 is level 4 of the nine HSK 3.0 levels. It builds on HSK 3 with 1,000 new words, for 2,000 words in total, 1,096 characters to read and 339 grammar points.
- New words
- 1,000
- Words in total
- 2,000
- Characters to read
- 1,096
- Grammar points
- 339
Step-by-step lessons
HSK 4 Unit 1: Can or can't, and how it happened · 5 lessons
Five lessons that make your Chinese more precise: whether you can or can't manage something (听得懂, 来不及), stressing when, where and how something happened with 是…的, thinking wrongly with 以为, intensity with 这么 and 那么, and weighing up two cities.
HSK 4 Unit 2: Not only… but also · 5 lessons
Five lessons on building richer sentences: not only… but also, contrasting two people with 而, including and excluding with 除了…以外, even with 连…都, and a story about a grandmother who even learned to make video calls.
HSK 4 Unit 3: Conditions and choices · 5 lessons
Five lessons about choices and conditions: no matter what with 无论…都, since that's the case with 既然…就, if with 要是, otherwise with 否则 and 不然, and either … or with 不是…就是.
HSK 4 Unit 4: Time and change · 5 lessons
Five lessons about how things unfold: as soon as with 一…就, keeping going and settling down with 下去 and 下来, how things look, sound and come back to you with 起来, early and late with 才 and 就, and a city that changes the more it grows.
HSK 4 Unit 5: People and relationships · 5 lessons
Five lessons about the people in your life: describing two qualities at once with 既…又, explaining the real reason with 之所以…是因为, treating and turning things into something else with 把, friendship, and a story about how a couple met.
HSK 4 Unit 6: Working life · 5 lessons
Five lessons for working life: careers and promotion, a negotiation, writing a formal email, balancing work and life, and a story about someone who changed careers, all using the HSK 4 grammar so far.
HSK 4 Unit 7: Society and technology · 5 lessons
Five lessons about modern life: staying safe online, ordering, reviewing and returning things, sorting rubbish and saving resources, following the news, and a week-long experiment without a phone.
HSK 4 Unit 8: Health and lifestyle · 5 lessons
Five lessons about looking after yourself: fitness goals, eating well, sleep and stress, a visit to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, and the story of a first marathon.
HSK 4 Unit 9: Stories from history · 5 lessons
Five lessons of stories: the creation legend of Nüwa, the idiom 守株待兔, the four great inventions, the Silk Road, and a museum visit to the terracotta warriors, all retold in our own simple Chinese.
HSK 4 Unit 10: Looking back, looking ahead · 8 lessons
The last eight HSK 4 lessons: childhood memories, regrets and lessons learned, a short speech at a celebration, a friendly debate, and plans for the future, bringing together all the grammar of HSK 4; then three lessons with the words you need for the HSK 4 stories.
These lessons follow the HSK 3.0 progression. Up to HSK 4, together with Chinese Foundations, they teach 1,047 words; the official syllabus counts 2,000. Mythic Mandarin is an HSK-aligned learning path and does not reproduce the complete official word list.
Learn HSK 4 step by step
Preview version — Chinese review in progress.
Intermediate stage (levels 4–6)
HSK 4 opens the intermediate stage. Texts move from daily life to work, study and society, and grammar becomes a matter of nuance: what you can or cannot manage, what you want to stress, and how two ideas relate.
Goal: In this HSK 4-aligned track you practise discussing familiar topics in some detail, giving opinions with reasons, reading short articles and building a connected paragraph.
What you will learn
- Potential complements: 看得懂, 听不清楚, 来不及
- Emphasis with 连……都…… and 是……的
- Growing change with 越来越 and 越……越……
- Adding and excluding with 不但……而且…… and 除了……以外
- Reading paragraphs that explain and argue
- Characters that change meaning from word to word
Audio preview uses your device’s Chinese voice. It is not a recording.
Vocabulary: opinions, work and society
Mythic Mandarin starter words for this level. They are not the official HSK 4 word list, which is much larger; use the stories and the dictionary to meet more.
Characters: one character, many words
At the intermediate stage the same character appears in many words, sometimes with different shades of meaning. The characters below are a Mythic Mandarin practice selection, not an official HSK list.
Review Read the word, not only the character
行 means "to walk, to do" in 不行 and 行动, but it is read háng and means "row, trade" in 银行 (bank). Always learn the word; the character's reading and meaning depend on it.
银行
yínháng
bank
不行
bùxíng
that won't do
Optional practice. Watch the strokes, then trace the character; each finished trace counts as one repetition, up to 20. Progress is saved on this device only, and nothing here is needed to continue.
Grammar: nuance and emphasis
Intermediate grammar is mostly about how you say something: what is possible, what you stress, and how two facts relate.
New Can or cannot: 得 and 不 inside the verb
Verb + 得/不 + result
Put 得 or 不 between a verb and its result to say whether the result is possible. 看懂 is to read and understand; 看得懂 is "can understand it"; 看不懂 is "cannot understand it". This is how Chinese most often says can't in practice.
这篇文章我看得懂。
Zhè piān wénzhāng wǒ kàn de dǒng.
I can understand this article.
声音太小，我听不清楚。
Shēngyīn tài xiǎo, wǒ tīng bu qīngchu.
The sound is too quiet; I can't hear it clearly.
快走吧，要来不及了。
Kuài zǒu ba, yào lái bu jí le.
Let's hurry, or we won't make it in time.
New 连……都……: even
连 + the surprising part + 都/也 + verb
连 picks out the most surprising case and 都 or 也 follows before the verb. Often used with a negative.
他忙得连饭都没吃。
Tā máng de lián fàn dōu méi chī.
He was so busy he didn't even eat.
这个问题连老师也不知道。
Zhège wèntí lián lǎoshī yě bù zhīdào.
Even the teacher doesn't know the answer to this question.
New 是……的: stressing when, where or how
Subject + 是 + detail + verb + 的
For an action that already happened, 是……的 puts the stress on a detail: when, where, how or with whom.
我是去年来中国的。
Wǒ shì qùnián lái Zhōngguó de.
It was last year that I came to China.
你是怎么来的？
Nǐ shì zěnme lái de?
How did you get here?
New 越来越 and 越……越……: more and more
越来越 + adjective describes a steady change. 越 A 越 B says that B grows as A grows.
天气越来越热了。
Tiānqì yuè lái yuè rè le.
The weather is getting hotter and hotter.
中文越学越有意思。
Zhōngwén yuè xué yuè yǒu yìsi.
The more you study Chinese, the more interesting it gets.
New 不但……而且……: not only, but also
The two parts add up, and the second is usually the stronger point.
这家饭馆不但便宜，而且很好吃。
Zhè jiā fànguǎn búdàn piányi, érqiě hěn hǎochī.
This restaurant is not only cheap but also delicious.
New 除了……以外: apart from
With 都 it excludes: everyone except. With 还 or 也 it adds: besides this, also that.
除了小王以外，大家都来了。
Chúle Xiǎo Wáng yǐwài, dàjiā dōu lái le.
Everyone came except Xiao Wang.
除了中文以外，他还会说日语。
Chúle Zhōngwén yǐwài, tā hái huì shuō Rìyǔ.
Besides Chinese, he can also speak Japanese.
Practise 把 with longer results
The 把 sentence now carries fuller results: where something ends up, what it becomes.
请把这些句子翻译成中文。
Qǐng bǎ zhèxiē jùzi fānyì chéng Zhōngwén.
Please translate these sentences into Chinese.
Practise 被 and its spoken cousins
In speech 让 and 叫 can replace 被, and then the doer must be named.
我的伞让人拿走了。
Wǒ de sǎn ràng rén názǒu le.
Someone took my umbrella.
Practise Topics in opinions
A topic at the start frames an opinion or a contrast.
这个办法我觉得不错。
Zhège bànfǎ wǒ juéde búcuò.
This method, I think it's quite good.
Review Measure words for events and texts
Review the everyday set and add 篇 for articles, 次 for how many times, and 部 for films.
这部电影我看了三次。
Zhè bù diànyǐng wǒ kànle sān cì.
I've seen this film three times.
Practice
Answer each question, then read the explanation. Your answers stay on this device only.
Grammar
"I can't understand this sentence." 这个句子我看＿懂。
看没懂 is not a potential complement; 没看懂 would mean you did not understand it when you read it.
看得懂 means you can understand it.
Show the answer
Answer: A, 不.
Verb + 不 + result says the result is not possible: 看不懂.
Grammar
Which sentence means "He didn't even drink water"?
Show the answer
Answer: A, 他连水都没喝。.
连 + the surprising thing + 都 + verb: 连水都没喝.
Grammar
You want to stress when someone arrived. Which sentence?
Show the answer
Answer: A, 他是昨天到的。.
是 + the detail + verb + 的: 他是昨天到的, "It was yesterday that he arrived."
Fill the gap
Fill the gap: 他的中文＿＿＿好了。 (His Chinese is getting better and better.)
Show the answer
Answer: A, 越来越.
越来越 + adjective describes a steady change.
Meaning
What does 除了他以外，大家都去了 mean?
除了他以外，大家都去了。 Chúle tā yǐwài, dàjiā dōu qù le.
Show the answer
Answer: A, Everyone went except him..
除了……以外 with 都 excludes: everyone went, apart from him.
Word order
Build: "This phone is not only cheap but also good."
- 而且很好用
- 这个手机
- 不但便宜
Show the answer
这个手机不但便宜而且很好用 Zhège shǒujī búdàn piányi, érqiě hěn hǎoyòng.
This phone is not only cheap but also easy to use.
Subject first, then 不但 + first quality, then 而且 + the stronger point.
Measure word
Fill the gap: 我写了一＿文章。 (I wrote an article.)
本 counts books, not articles.
Show the answer
Answer: A, 篇.
篇 is the measure word for articles and essays.
Reading
Read: 小李刚开始工作的时候压力很大。后来他越来越有经验，问题也都能自己解决了。 What changed for Xiao Li?
Show the answer
Answer: A, He gained experience and could solve problems himself..
越来越有经验: more and more experienced; 问题也都能自己解决了: he could solve the problems himself.
Review: can you do this?
Check yourself before moving on.
- I can say what I can and cannot manage with 得 and 不 inside the verb.
- I can stress a surprising case with 连……都…….
- I can stress when or how something happened with 是……的.
- I can describe a growing change with 越来越.
- I can add and exclude with 不但……而且…… and 除了……以外.
- I can read a short paragraph that explains a change.
HSK 5 raises the register: more formal connectives, written-style words and your first chengyu, the four-character idioms. Continue to HSK 5
How many words are in HSK 4?
HSK 4 has 2,000 words in total: the 1,000 words up to HSK 3 plus 1,000 new words.
That is 18% of the 11,000 words in the complete HSK 3.0 list, which runs from HSK 1 to the advanced HSK 7–9 band.
What comes after HSK 4
HSK 5 adds 1,600 new words, for 3,600 in total.
Writing Chinese characters at HSK 4
Optional character writing practice: watch the stroke order, then write the character yourself. This is a Mythic Mandarin practice method, not an official HSK requirement.
Look up the stroke order of any character in the Chinese Stroke Order Dictionary
Look up any word, its pinyin and meanings in the Chinese dictionary
Speaking at HSK 4
From level 3, speaking is part of the exam: for levels 3 to 6 the speaking test is registered together with the written test of the same level.