About
HSK Grammar Wiki started as a personal set of notes. I was working through HSK 1–3 and kept running into the same frustrations.
The first was fragmentation. Grammar explanations were either buried in textbooks with no practice, scattered across blog posts with inconsistent quality, or presented in complete isolation — as if each rule existed in a vacuum, with no connection to anything I had already learned.
The second was a specific problem that kept coming up while studying: I would be working through a new grammar point and find myself thinking about a structure I had learned weeks earlier. The two followed similar logic, but something was different — the contexts, the nuance, the conditions under which one applied and the other didn't. No resource ever stopped to compare them. You were expected to somehow figure it out over time.
The third was the opposite situation. Sometimes a new lesson would teach me a way to express something I thought I already knew how to say. The new structure covered the same territory as an old one, but from a different angle — stricter in some situations, more flexible in others. Again, no explanation of when to use which. Just two rules sitting side by side in my notes, with no map between them.
I wanted one place that took these problems seriously: clear explanations, real examples, immediate practice — and, crucially, a dedicated section on every page that directly compares structures that are easy to confuse. Without switching between five resources, without having to construct the comparison yourself. Those notes became pages. The pages became a structure. Eventually the structure became this site.
How each page is built
Every grammar point follows the same format, in the same order, every time.
It starts with a plain-English overview — what the grammar does, when to use it, and why it matters at your level. Then comes the pattern formula, which breaks the structure into labelled slots so you can see exactly how a sentence is built. Core examples show the pattern in real sentences, with Chinese, pinyin, and an English translation side by side. A pitfalls section covers the specific mistakes learners commonly make — not generic advice, but the exact errors that come up when English speakers try to apply this grammar. Where two structures look similar on the surface, a minimal pairs section puts them side by side so you can see the difference clearly.
Every page ends with drills — at least ten fill-in-the-blank exercises with an answer key. The goal is practice you can do immediately, not homework you have to prepare.
Pages are drafted in a private research base, cross-checked against HSK textbooks and supplementary references, then published here. New grammar points are added regularly as content is reviewed.
What makes this different
Most grammar resources fall into one of two categories: textbooks that are thorough but slow to use as a reference, and blog posts that are easy to read but inconsistent in depth. This site is designed to be the third option — structured enough to be a reliable reference, but focused enough to be useful when you just need to understand one specific thing.
Every page treats you as someone who can handle a real explanation. The Chinese is always accompanied by pinyin and a translation. Patterns are shown as formulas, not described in vague terms. Drills have answer keys, so you know immediately whether you got it right.
What's covered
Content currently covers HSK levels 1–3. That means the grammar foundations: basic sentence structures, common particles, key conjunctions, aspect markers, and the constructions that make Mandarin feel different from European languages.
HSK 4–6 content is planned. The same format will apply — no shortcuts on depth or structure just because the grammar gets more complex.
A note on sources
Examples and explanations are my own interpretations of grammar rules for study purposes. Where a structure is analysed differently across sources, I try to note the variation rather than pretend there is only one correct reading.
This site is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the official HSK examination programme or Hanban / the Chinese International Chinese Education Foundation.
Contact
Questions, corrections, or feedback are welcome at BIP_Digital@proton.me.