We all forget how to spell words sometimes and the Chinese are no exception! To answer this question we first need to understand how Chinese characters are formed.
Breaking down characters
Lots of Chinese characters have phonetic components which give a clue as to how to pronounce the word.
For example: 吗 has the component 马 which gives a hint as to how it is pronounced.
All Chinese characters also contain a radical which is mainly used for classification purposes and sometimes giving a hint as to the meaning of a character. Radicals are usually positioned to the left or underneath a character.
When a Chinese person has forgotten how to write a character, someone can explain it to them by telling them the different components of the character. This will usually jog the memory of the writer and allow them to continue. Here are some examples:
Example 1
记 is composed of a 讠radical called a 言字旁 and a 己 component called a 绞丝旁. To describe this character a person might say 记是由一个言字旁和一个己组成. In English this might be: “Ji is composed of a 言字旁 and a 绞丝旁.”.
Example 2
法 is composed of a 氵radical (Called a 三点水) and a 去 and a Chinese person might say 法是由一个三点水和一个去组成.
Example 3
A final example is the character 河 meaning river. 河 is composed of the 氵radical again except this time it is next to a 可. As you might have guessed, a Chinese person would describe this as 河是由一个三点水和一个可组成.
Common radicals
It is a good idea to be able to recognize some radicals (there are 214 in total), especially the most common ones. They help differentiate between similar characters. Here are ten radicals that you can find in a lot of different Chinese characters:
| Radical | Chinese | Radical | Chinese |
| 讠 | 言字旁 | 冖 | 秃宝盖 |
| 己 | 绞丝旁 | 厂 | 偏厂 |
| 冫 | 两点水 | 亻 | 单人旁 |
| 廴 | 建之旁 | 阝 | 双耳旁 |
| 宀 | 宝盖 | 广 | 广字旁 |