Learning Mandarin? Don’t be intimidated by the huge number of odd-looking characters. You don’t really need to memorize all of them. Even memorizing couple of hundreds basic ones would be enough to have a basic conversation with Mandarin speaking people. Here’s the list of 135 character that make up around 50% of the words used in Mandarin daily conversation. Enough to understand simple conversation and hopefully help you survive socializing with Mandarin speaking people .

Warning: I use Google Translate, and haven’t done any proofreading, expect some mistakes

我 – Wǒ – I
你 – Nǐ – You
的 – De – Of
是 – Shì – Be
了 – Le – indicating past events
他 – Tā – He
么 – Me – It
们 – Men – Are
在 – Zài – In
有 – Yǒu – Have
这 – Zhè – This
那 – Nà – That
不 – Bù – Not
什 – Shén – Even
个 – Gè – [quantifier]
来 – Lái – Come
要 – Yào – To
就 – Jiù – On
一 – Yī – A
人 – Rén – People
里 – Lǐ – In
会 – Huì – Will
没 – Méi – Not
她 – Tā – She
吗 – Ma – You
去 – Qù – Go
也 – Yě – Also
说 – Shuō – Say
为 – Wèi – For
好 – Hǎo – Good
吧 – Ba – [commonly used as a way to invite]
知道 – Zhīdào – Know
我的 – Wǒ de – My
和 – Hé – And
你的 – Nǐ de – Your
想 – Xiǎng – Would like
只 – Zhǐ – Only
很 – Hěn – Very
都 – Dōu – All
对 – Duì – To
把 – Bǎ – To
啊 – A – Ah
怎 – Zěn – How
得 – De – Get
还 – Hái – Also
过 – Guò – Had
不是 – Bùshì – Not
到 – Dào – To
样 – Yàng – Sample
能 – Néng – Can
事 – Shì – Thing
看 – Kàn – See
我們 – Wǒmen – We
上 – Shàng – On
给 – Gěi – To
可以 – Kěyǐ – Can
现 – Xiàn – Present
斯 – Sī – Sri Lanka
做 – Zuò – Do
儿 – Er – Child
时 – Shí – Time
点 – Diǎn – Point
开 – Kāi – Open
让 – Ràng – Let
就是 – Jiùshì – Is
但 – Dàn – But
呢 – Ne – It
着 – Zhe – With
它 – Tā – It
這 – Zhè – This
如果 – Rúguǒ – If
跟 – Gēn – With
邪 – Xié – Evil
听 – Tīng – Listen
克 – Kè – Gram
再 – Zài – Again
快 – Kuài – Fast
嗎 – Ma – You
被 – Bèi – Be
是的 – Shì de – Yes
大 – Dà – Large
先生 – Xiānshēng – Mr.
别 – Bié – Do not
告 – Gào – Tell
真的 – Zhēn de – Really
谢 – Xiè – Thank
哦 – Ó – Oh
话 – Huà – Words
械 – Xiè – Mechanical
见 – Jiàn – See
当 – Dāng – When the
芯 – Xīn – Core
该 – Gāi – That
西 – Xi – Western
子 – Zi – Child
已 – Yǐ – Already
會 – Huì – Will
小 – Xiǎo – Small
爱 – Ài – Love
特 – Tè – Special
不要 – Bùyào – Do not
些 – Xiē – Some
不知道 – Bù zhīdào – Do not know
不能 – Bùnéng – Can not
因 – Yīn – Because
觉 – Jué – Sleep
发 – Fā – Hair
像 – Xiàng – Image
太 – Tài – Too
但是 – Dànshì – But
多 – Duō – Multi-
打 – Dǎ – Fight
机 – Jī – Machine
來 – Lái – Come
好了 – Hǎole – Done
用 – Yòng – Use
他的 – Tā de – His
诉 – Su – Complaint
德 – Dé – Virtue
叫 – Jiào – Call/Name
什麼 – Shénme – What
真 – Zhēn – True
干 – Gàn – Dry
心 – Xīn – Heart
走 – Zǒu – Go
比 – Bǐ – Ratio
死 – Sǐ – Dead
嘿 – Hēi – Hey
出 – Chū – Out
车 – Chē – Car
一下 – Yīxià – About
中 – Zhōng – In
好吧 – Hǎo ba – Well
需要 – Xūyào – Need
经 – Jīng – After