HSK 3 – Vocabulary list and content

By Felipe / Last updated September 10, 2024

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HSK level 3 is the third of 6 levels in the official Chinese proficiency test HSK. After tackling the basics in HSK 1 and HSK 2, HSK 3 challenges you to expand your vocabulary further and use even more complex structures. Let's dive into what HSK 3 covers and how much you'll be able to express with it!

Quick disclaimer: This guide is about HSK version 2.0. An update to the HSK test (version 3.0) has been officially announced in 2021 and brings some significant changes. However, textbooks are still being updated to fit the new curriculum and you can not take the new HSK tests, yet. So for the foreseeable future, the current HSK 2.0 is going to stay relevant.

How many words are in HSK 3?

HSK level 3 introduces 300 new words and 270 distinct new characters. That means that you will know a total of 600 words and 618 characters after HSK 3.

What you will learn in HSK 3

Vocabulary-wise, HSK 3 just adds a little bit of everything. You can now talk more about:

Your extended family, like your grandparents or uncles and aunts,
Food, like bananas, bread, and cake,
Cutlery, like pans, bowls, and chopsticks,
Clothes, like shirts and pants,
And a whole bunch of other stuff, like colors, seasons, modes of transportation, cardinal directions, and body parts.

However, where HSK 3 really steps it up a notch is grammar:

Adverbs: You learn how to turn adjectives into adverbs by adding 地 (de). Example: 她慢慢地走 (She walks slowly).
If ..., then ...: You learn how to talk about conditional events with "如果 ... (的话)，(就) ... ". Example: 如果明天下雨的话，我就不去了 (If it rains tomorrow, then I'm not going).
Comparisons: HSK 3 introduces a whole zoo of different options to compare things:
- Things being the same with "A 跟 B 一样 ...": 他跟她一样大 (He is the same age as her).
- Things being different with "A 比 B 还/更 ...": 蛋糕比面包更好吃 (Cake tastes better than bread).
- Things being different by a large margin with "A 比 B ... 多了": 中国比英国大多了 (China is a lot larger than England).
Passive clauses: Expressing a passive event is possible by adding 被. Example: 他被骂了 (He got scolded).
Half things: Using 半, you can express things like 一个半小时 (One and a half hours).

There is a lot more grammar included in HSK 3 that would go beyond the scope of this article. You can check a comprehensive list in this Chinese grammar wiki.

Closing thoughts

HSK 1 and 2 both introduced the same number of new words, but starting from HSK 3, every level doubles the number of new words. On the one hand, you will be faster at learning because you already got the basics down. On the other hand, the growing amount of new words simply takes some time to learn. Therefore, in general, subsequent levels will take more and more time to complete.

As you move into HSK 3, you'll notice that the focus shifts slightly. While HSK 1 and 2 laid the groundwork, HSK 3 starts to fill in the gaps with more auxiliary vocabulary and complex grammar structures. In my opinion, if you pass HSK 3, you have everything it takes to survive in a Chinese-speaking environment. Sure, there is still a lot more to learn, but the basics are taken care of. You know tones, Chinese characters, and grammar structures. During your studies you have also learned how to look up and memorize new words and how to ask for clarifications.

Some of the grammar structures in HSK 3 are very foreign for Westerners. That makes it hard to just learn them on-the-go, as you read new material. I would therefore recommend to study these grammar structures quite rigorously. Almost all new grammar introduced in HSK 4, 5, and 6 can be learned quite easily by just looking up the words in a dictionary.

Regarding the HSK 3 test, it might be more worth considering than the HSK 2 test. By now, the certificate starts to hold more significance, especially if you're looking to prove your Chinese proficiency for work or study purposes. If you pass HSK 3, you legitimately know some Chinese. Good job! 🙂 Now it's time to stay patient and keep pushing forward.

Until next time, happy learning! 🤓