Kilo Lingo

Mandarin stories

Short stories written within a strict vocabulary tier so every word is one you have already met - or should meet soon. That is comprehensible input by construction. The stories from chapters 1 and 2 are free to read; the rest of the library comes with Kilo Lingo Plus.

A teacher's desk at the front of a classroom, in front of a blackboard: a handwritten note in blue biro on lined paper and a red tin of tea on top; the drawer below is half open with a phone inside.
Top 103 wordsCore 1,0001 minPlus feature Plus

孙老师说可以

sūn lǎo shī shuō kě yǐ

Ms Sun Said I Could

86 words

A red crayon drawing in the margin: a tall stick-figure woman and a small boy holding hands, with the same round head and the same scribbled smile, a heart above them.
Top 700 wordsCore 1,0002 minPlus feature Plus

小宇妈妈

xiǎo yǔ mā ma

Xiaoyu's Mum

170 words

A snowy university path at night under street lamps. In front, a young man's hand makes a V sign in the thin sleeve of a grey hoodie. At the right edge, half out of the picture, a laughing girl in a bright red padded coat and red bobble hat holds a snowball.
Top 869 wordsCore 1,0002 minPlus feature Plus

在吗？

zài ma ？

You There?

93 words

A solid old wooden armchair, painted red and clearly hand-made, stands by the rubbish bins of a block of flats.
Top 900 wordsCore 1,0001 minPlus feature Plus

谁的椅子？

shuí de yǐ zi ？

Whose Chair?

82 words

An open-plan office at night seen through a glass wall, clock at 20:47: a woman on a video call with a boy eating alone, a young man leaning back playing a phone game, a young woman in her coat with her bag on her lap, and empty dumpling boxes.
Top 900 wordsCore 1,0002 minPlus feature Plus

发错了

fā cuò le

Wrong Chat

158 words

我只想买花
Top 900 wordsCore 1,0002 minPlus feature Plus

我只想买花

wǒ zhī xiǎng mǎi huā

I only wanted flowers

240 words

Two smiling women in their sixties on a sunny beach with palm trees, in matching straw sun hats, arms linked, each holding a coconut with a straw.
Top 900 wordsCore 1,0003 minPlus feature Plus

今年回谁家？

jīn nián huí shuí jiā ？

Whose Turn This Year?

270 words

一点
Top 943 wordsCore 1,0001 min

一点

yì diǎn

A Little

25 words

At an open front door, a man's hand holds a takeaway bag with two bowls of rice and a covered dish of fish inside; down the corridor a delivery rider in a yellow helmet walks away.
Top 943 wordsCore 1,0002 minPlus feature Plus

两碗米饭

liǎng wǎn mǐ fàn

Two Bowls of Rice

114 words

Dusk, looking up from a little park at a block of flats: in a lit sixth-floor window a woman of about fifty, a walking stick beside her, holds a red fan in mid dance step; below, a teenage boy in school uniform stands among the dancing women, looking up, beside a small speaker on a stool.
Top 943 wordsCore 1,0003 minPlus feature Plus

小公园里的音乐

xiǎo gōng yuán lǐ de yīn yuè

Music in the Little Park

249 words

一人120
Top 953 wordsCore 1,0001 min

一人120

yì rén 120

120 Each

30 words

错过公交车
Top 1,000 wordsCore 1,0003 minPlus feature Plus

错过公交车

cuò guò gōng jiāo chē

The Missed Bus

159 words