的 — of; ~'s

of; ~'s; " or 新的[xin1 de5] "new one")

Pinyin: de · dī · dí · dì
Strokes: 8
HSK level: HSK 1
Handwriting: required

This character has more than one reading — de, dī, dí, dì — and the pronunciation depends on the word it appears in. The list below gives the syllabus reading for each word.

How to write 的: 8 strokes

Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. This character is on the HSK handwriting list, so the exam expects you to write it, not only recognise it.

的 — 8 strokes, in writing order from left to right.

Build a printable practice sheet with 的

Words with 的 in the HSK syllabus: 9

Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.

的deof; ~'s; " or 新的[xin1 de5] "new one")HSK 1
有的yǒudesome; someHSK 1
别的biédeelse; otherHSK 3
的话dehuàifHSK 3
目的mùdìpurpose; aim; goal; target; objectiveHSK 4
目的地mùdìdìdestinationHSK 4
的确díquèreally; indeedHSK 5
似的shìdeseems as if; rather likeHSK 5
有的放矢yǒudì-fàngshǐlit. to have a target in mind when shooting one's arrowsHSK 7–9

Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.