HSK Grammar List by Level: What You Must Know

The current HSK grammar syllabus lists 593 items across seven levels: 70 at HSK 1, 78 at HSK 2, 96 at HSK 3, 95 at HSK 4, 70 at HSK 5, 50 at HSK 6 and 134 at HSK 7-9. To pass a level, you need to recognize that level’s structures plus every structure below it, in real listening and reading passages.

That list is public but hard to read: it is a Chinese-language table inside a 406-page PDF. We pulled it into a script, hsk_grammar_map.py, and compared it with the 712 grammar patterns of the Coco curriculum (HSK 1 to 6). Below is what each level really adds, which structures keep coming back, and where the load sits.

How many grammar points does each HSK level have?

The official figures come from the grammar syllabus (语法大纲, yǔfǎ dàgāng) of the HSK Syllabus, published in November 2025 by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation and in force since July 2026. It is built on the GF0025-2021 standard, and CTI links it from its syllabus page.

The two columns do not count the same unit. One official HSK 1 item groups eleven question words; the Coco curriculum teaches each use separately, so 什么 (shénme) as “what” and as “what kind of” are two patterns. Compare the shapes, not the raw totals.

The shapes differ in one clear way. The official list puts 53.2% of its HSK 1-6 items in HSK 1-3, while our curriculum puts 70.4% of its patterns in HSK 4-6. The reason is bundling: at HSK 5, the official syllabus lists 73 function words inside just 19 word-class items, and a single line holds twelve modal adverbs, including 反而 (fǎn’ér, on the contrary) and 毕竟 (bìjìng, after all). We teach each of those separately, so 69% of our HSK 5 patterns are single words.

What grammar must you know for HSK 1 and HSK 2?

HSK 1 is the sentence skeleton. The official items include 是 and 有 sentences, questions with 吗 and question words, negation with 不 and 没, the particle 了, the progressive 在/正在, measure words, and modal verbs like 会, 能 and 想.

• 我在看书呢。 (Wǒ zài kàn shū ne.) I am reading.
• 我去商店买东西。 (Wǒ qù shāngdiàn mǎi dōngxi.) I go to the shop to buy things.

HSK 2 adds the experience marker 过 (guo), the duration marker 着 (zhe), 比 comparisons, the 是……的 focus pattern, the first result and direction complements, and paired connectors such as 虽然……但是 (although… but) and 因为……所以 (because… so).

• 我去过北京。 (Wǒ qùguo Běijīng.) I have been to Beijing.
• 我是坐飞机来的。 (Wǒ shì zuò fēijī lái de.) I came by plane.

If those patterns feel shaky, our Chinese grammar guide walks through the foundations, and the two jobs of 了 get their own guide to the 了 particle.

What grammar is new at HSK 3?

HSK 3 has the most items of any level, 96. This is where the 把 (bǎ) sentence and the 被 (bèi) passive arrive, along with potential complements (V得/不 + result), 越……越 (the more… the more) and the main conditionals.

• 我把书放在桌子上了。 (Wǒ bǎ shū fàng zài zhuōzi shang le.) I put the book on the table.
• 我的自行车被偷了。 (Wǒ de zìxíngchē bèi tōu le.) My bike was stolen.
• 只要多听，就能听懂。 (Zhǐyào duō tīng, jiù néng tīngdǒng.) As long as you listen a lot, you will understand.

HSK 3 also holds 13 complex-sentence items (13.5%), for example 如果……就 (if… then), 只有……才 (only if) and 不但……而且 (not only… but also). They are short, but they are the first patterns that link two clauses with logic.

What changes at HSK 4, HSK 5 and HSK 6?

The type of grammar changes more than the amount. At HSK 4, 27 of 95 items (28.4%) are complex sentences, the highest share of any level: concession, condition, cause and escalation, such as 即使……也 (even if… still) and 连……也/都 (even…).

• 即使下雨，我也去。 (Jíshǐ xià yǔ, wǒ yě qù.) Even if it rains, I am going.

After HSK 4, fixed formats and set phrases take over. Their share climbs from 0% at HSK 1 to 27.4% at HSK 4, 30.0% at HSK 5, 38.0% at HSK 6 and 53.7% at HSK 7-9. These are frames like 从……来看 (judging from…) or 到……为止 (up until…), which behave more like vocabulary than rules. Why HSK 4 feels like a wall is covered in HSK 4: the hardest jump.

Which grammar points come back at several levels?

Many structures are taught in stages rather than once. The official syllabus numbers them: 比较句 (comparison sentences) appears at five levels with 13 items, the 把 sentence at four levels (HSK 3 to 6) with 11 items, and the degree complement at four levels.

Single words are split the same way. 还 (hái) has numbered senses at HSK 1, 2, 3 and 4, and 就 (jiù) at HSK 2, 3, 4 and 7-9. In the Coco curriculum, 41 markers return at two or more HSK levels and carry 157 of the 712 patterns (22%); 的 and 都 each come back at four levels, and 了 alone carries 8 patterns. Meeting 把 at HSK 3 does not mean you are finished with it.

Does the Coco curriculum follow the official syllabus?

On the landmarks, closely. We checked the first level at which 15 key structures appear in each list. For 14 of 15, the level is the same: 了 at HSK 1; 过, 着, 比 and 虽然……但是 at HSK 2; 把, 被, 越……越, 一边……一边, 如果 and 只要 at HSK 3; 即使, 无论 and 连 at HSK 4.

The one difference is 是……的. The syllabus introduces it at HSK 2; our curriculum starts it one step earlier, in the last unit of HSK 1. That is an early preview, not a gap: it is covered before the exam that needs it.

How should you study the HSK grammar list?

Treat the list as a map of what to notice, not a deck to memorize. The HSK tests grammar through listening and reading, so what counts is recognizing 把 or 即使 at speed inside a passage.

1. Take the core patterns for your level first (in our curriculum, 222 of 712 are marked P1).
2. Read and listen to graded material at that level, and notice each pattern as it appears.
3. Save the sentences that confused you and review them with spaced repetition.

For where the grammar sits within each exam, our complete HSK guide gives the level-by-level overview.

Where Coco fits

Coco’s graded stories are built on the curriculum measured here: 712 patterns from HSK 1 to 6, grouped into small units, each with its own stories. Each story has native Beijing audio, tap-to-translate pinyin and spaced repetition, so a structure like 把 or 即使 appears in context many times, not once on a list. Try Coco, or read a free story from the graded library at your level.

The bottom line

The current HSK syllabus lists 593 grammar items, and 53% of the HSK 1-6 load sits in the first three levels. HSK 3 has the most items, HSK 4 has the heaviest share of complex sentences, and from HSK 5 fixed formats dominate. Key structures such as 把 and comparisons come back across four or five levels. Learn the core for your level, then let input do the recycling.