As with the Roman alphabet, there are many ways of writing characters. The characters in this course are close to printed forms, but here you will find examples of more cursive styles.

Let's have a look at the element 去 qù 'go':

This one's close to the printed form:

This 却 què 'however' is starting to go:

And 怯 qiè 'timid' and 法 fǎ 'method' are getting quite cursive:

The element on the left is a form of 水 shuǐ 'water' and it is starting to look quite like the left version of 言 yán 'words' as in:

fǎng 'visit'.

Lastly, note what happens to 女 nǚ 'woman' in:

fáng 'impede'.