New HSK 2: Word List PDF & Infographic 2021

by | Dec 6, 2021 | Highlights, HSK

New HSK 2: Vocabulary Word List by That's Mandarin

In our previous post, we took a close look at the new HSK 1 vocabulary list and analyzed the new words. In this post, we continue analyzing the new HSK and look at the new HSK2 Vocabulary word list for Level 2 in 2021.

For a free HSK2 PDF download, scroll down to the bottom👇

New HSK 2 Word List Infographic

New HSK2 Word List Infographic & Analysis 2021 | That's Mandarin Chinese Language School

New HSK 2 Word List: Vocabulary Analysis

The new HSK2 has 772 words.

The old HSK2 only had 150 words.

Big change: out of those 150 words, only 46 old HSK2 words appear in the new HSK! The remaining 724 words are totally new — coming from old HSK3, 4, 5, 6, or appearing for the first time ever.

NEW HSK WORDS OLD HSK WORDS
TOTAL 772 150
COMING FROM THE OLD HSK 46
COMPLETELY NEW 724

HSK2 Word List: What’s New?

We’ve tried to find patterns in the new HSK2 list and discovered that it has a lot of essential words that can help build the language base. Such words include conjunctions (“for example”, “or”, “but”, “not only”), auxiliary verbs (“must”, “might”), as well as other handy abstract nouns (“result”, “advantage”, “purpose”, reason”) and colloquial expressions (“most of”, “almost”) that can help you express your ideas & connect sentences.

Here are some examples:

CONJUNCTIONS IN THE NEW HSK 2
CHINESE PINYIN ENGLISH PART OF SPEECH NEW?
比如 bǐrú for example (conjunction) NEW
比如说 bǐrú shuō for example (conjunction) NEW
例如 lìrú for instance (conjunction) NEW
但是 dànshì but (conjunction)
dàn but (conjunction) NEW
或者 huòzhě or (conjunction) NEW
不过 bùguò but; however (conjunction) NEW
不但 bùdàn not only (conjunction) NEW
然后 ránhòu and then… (conjunction) NEW
接下来 jiēxiàlái next; following (conjunction) NEW
如果 rúguǒ if (conjunction) NEW
的话 dehuà if (conjunction) NEW
AUXILIARY VERBS / POSSIBILITY IN THE NEW HSK2
CHINESE PINYIN ENGLISH PART OF SPEECH NEW?
可能

kěnéng

perhaps; maybe; possibility

(auxiliary verb; noun)

也许

yěxǔ

perhaps

(adverb) NEW

一定

yīdìng

certainly; for sure

(adverb) NEW

不一定

bùyīdìng

not certainly; not for sure

(adverb) NEW

应该

yīnggāi

should; must

(auxiliary verb) NEW
必须

bìxū

to have to; must

(auxiliary verb) NEW

 

USEFUL ABSTRACT NOUNS IN THE NEW HSK2
CHINESE PINYIN ENGLISH PART OF SPEECH NEW?
结果 jiéguǒ

result; outcome

(noun) NEW

目的

mùdì

goal; purpose

(noun) NEW

原因

yuányīn

reason; cause

(noun) NEW

机会

jīhuì

chance; opportunity

(noun) NEW

办法

bànfǎ

way; method

(noun) NEW
好处

hǎochù

advantage(s)

(noun) NEW
坏处

huàichu

disadvantage(s)

(noun) NEW
ADVERBS OF DEGREE IN THE NEW HSK2
CHINESE PINYIN ENGLISH PART OF SPEECH NEW?
不太 bùtài not very; not too (adverb) NEW
不够 bùgòu not enough; insufficient (adverb; adj) NEW
gòu enough; sufficient (adverb; adj) NEW
特别 tèbié special; especially; particularly (adverb; adj) NEW
差不多 chàbuduō almost (adverb; adj) NEW
大部分 dàbùfen (for the) most part; the majority (of) (colloquial expression) NEW
完全 wánquán completely; totally; entirely (adverb) NEW

Example: New HSK 2 Vocabulary — Colors

More colors have been added to the new HSK2. The old HSK had three: “white” (白 bái), “black” (黑 hēi) and “red” (红 hóng), all made of just one character, without the word “color” (色 sè) added to them. In the new HSK2, the colors appear in the new format with 色 (sè), and 3 more colors have been added — “blue”, “yellow” and “green”:

COLORS IN THE NEW HSK2
CHINESE PINYIN ENGLISH PART OF SPEECH NEW?
白色

báisè

white (color) (noun) USED TO BE JUST 白
黑色

hēisè

black (color) (noun) USED TO BE JUST 黑

红色

hóngsè

red (color) (verb) USED TO BE JUST 红

黄色

huángsè

yellow (color) (adj) NEW

蓝色

lánsè

blue (color) (noun) NEW

绿色

lǜsè

green (color) (adj) NEW

颜色

yánsè

color (noun)

Example: New HSK 2 Vocabulary Related to Directions

Another topic is directions. The four cardinal directions — east, west, north & south — have been added to the new HSK, as well as their combinations:

DIRECTIONS IN THE NEW HSK 2
CHINESE PINYIN ENGLISH PART OF SPEECH NEW?

东方

dōngfāng

east (direction noun) NEW

西方

xīfāng

west (direction noun) NEW

北方

běifāng

north (direction noun) NEW

南方

nánfāng

south (direction noun) NEW

东北

dōngběi

north-east (direction noun) NEW

西北

xīběi

north-west (direction noun) NEW

东南

dōngnán

south-east (direction noun) NEW

西南

xīnán

south-west (direction noun) NEW

Example: New HSK 2 Study-Related Vocabulary

Besides, many words have been added to help foreign students in China find their way around their university or campus, talk about their classes and schedule, etc:

STUDY-RELATED VOCABULARY IN THE NEW HSK2
CHINESE PINYIN ENGLISH PART OF SPEECH NEW?

校园

xiàoyuán

school; campus (noun) NEW

校长

xiàozhǎng

headmaster (noun) NEW

班长

bānzhǎng

(class) monitor (noun) NEW

教师

jiàoshī

teacher (noun) NEW

教室

jiàoshì

classroom (noun) NEW

留学生

liúxuéshēng

foreign exchange student (noun) NEW

学期

xuéqī

semester; term (noun) NEW

假期

jiàqī

holiday; break (noun) NEW

笔记

bǐjì

notes (noun) NEW

作业

zuòyè

homework (noun) NEW
成绩 chéngjì results; marks; score (noun) NEW

词典

cídiǎn

dictionary (noun) NEW

词语

cíyǔ

phrase (noun) NEW

句子

jùzi

sentence (noun) NEW

New HSK 2 Word List: PDF Download

Note: This list is an extremely valuable piece of content and we want to protect it. Other schools and websites have been copying our HSK lists and pretending they wrote/made them themselves. So we are asking for your email for security measures. Thanks for understanding!

Further Reading

To learn about other HSK levels and download free PDF word lists, read these posts:

New HSK 1 Word List PDF + Infographic | That's Mandarin

New HSK 1: Word List PDF, Analysis & Infographics 

New HSK 3 Word List PDF + Infographic | That's Mandarin

New HSK 3: Word List PDF, Analysis & Infographics 

For more news about the new HSK, make sure to check these articles:

New HSK Levels Revealed 2021

New HSK Levels Revealed 2021: All You Need to Know

When Will the New HSK Exams Come Into Effect? | That's Mandarin Blog
When Will the New HSK Exams Come Into Effect?
Written and Spoken HSK to Be Combined | That's Mandarin Blog

New HSK 3-6 Changes: Written & Spoken Exams Combined (Update 2022) 

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