What are the 5 most commonly used Chinese language characters?

Rachel gave you a decent answer but her "Where?" is incorrect (her characters are "na li" not "zai nar"), and the "ma1" (not "me") that is often added to make a question is NOT the same character as horse; it's 嗎

Keep studying Rachel! <smile>

first tone1 second tone2 third tone3 fourth tone4

You 你 pronounced ni3

Me, Mine, I, Myself 我 pronounced wo3

Where 哪裡 pronounced na2 li3

Who 誰 pronounced shei2

They 他們 pronounced ta1 men(notone)

Him/Her 他 pronounced ta1 們 turns a singular noun into a plural prounounced men(no tone)

Is/To be 是 pronounced shi1

you can make a sentence out of some of them, or a few. 她是誰？ Ta1 shi4 shei2? Who is she?he?

Question Mark or What you say at the end of any sentence to make it a question 馬 pronounced me (no tone)

example: it is cold 馬 ? (is it cold outside?) It has a different meaning too! 馬 ma3 it means horse!

Wenlin is a software program that allows you to convert english to chinese by pressing different commands on your keyboard. Allotting you know the characters you want to use. Chinesepod.com is a great way to learn and speak to a native speaker via Skype if you take the teachers course.

Actually Rachel isn't correct about the most common characters...

the most common characters are, in order of most common to least

的 - "de"...it has no tone, it's a particle that marks possession among other things, like adding 's to a noun

一 - "yi" 1st tone, chinese equivalent of 1

是 - "shi" 4th tone, chinese equivalent of is/am/are

不 - "bu" 4th tone, particle that means "not" so "lucky" becomes "unlucky" with this particle (幸运，不幸运）

了 - "le" it has no tone, it's a rather complex particle to explain but it kinda makes information recent in a way