PSLE Chinese Vocabulary List by Theme
There is no single official PSLE Chinese vocabulary list. MOE sets the syllabus and the school textbooks cover the core words, but nobody hands parents a sheet that says "learn these and your child is ready."
What follows is the next best thing: the words and idioms that come up again and again in PSLE compositions and oral conversations, grouped by the themes they actually get used in. Grouping matters. A child who learns 忐忑不安 next to other feeling words will reach for it at the right moment. A child who learns it from a random list of fifty will not.
Feelings 情绪
The most useful group on this page. Almost every composition needs at least two of these, and replacing 很开心 and 很害怕 with something precise is the fastest upgrade available.
兴高采烈 overjoyed, in high spirits
心花怒放 bursting with happiness
忐忑不安 anxious, on edge
惊慌失措 panic-stricken
垂头丧气 dejected, head hung low
恍然大悟 suddenly understanding
依依不舍 reluctant to part
愧疚 guilty, ashamed
委屈 feeling wronged or hard done by
感激 grateful
Actions 动作
These turn "he walked in" into a scene the examiner can picture.
蹑手蹑脚 tiptoeing
东张西望 looking around in every direction
目不转睛 staring without blinking
气喘吁吁 out of breath
手忙脚乱 flustered, all fingers and thumbs
小心翼翼 with great care
急急忙忙 in a great hurry
Weather and scenes 天气与景物
Useful for openings and endings, where setting the scene does a lot of work in very few words.
风和日丽 a fine, sunny day with a gentle breeze
烈日当空 the sun blazing overhead
乌云密布 dark clouds gathering
倾盆大雨 pouring rain
雷电交加 thunder and lightning together
夕阳西下 the sun setting in the west
Values and character 品德
Values themes dominate PSLE compositions and oral topics. These are the words that let a child name the value without preaching about it.
助人为乐 finding joy in helping others
拾金不昧 returning money or valuables you found
知错能改 admitting a mistake and putting it right
尊敬长辈 respecting elders
有责任感 having a sense of responsibility
公德心 civic-mindedness, consideration for the public
Family, school and friendship
无微不至 caring down to the smallest detail, often used for parents
天伦之乐 the happiness of family life together
形影不离 inseparable, always together
同心协力 working together as one
专心致志 completely focused
Society and environment, for the oral
Oral conversation topics lean on community and environment themes, and these are the words that let a child sound like they have a view rather than a vocabulary gap.
乐龄人士 senior citizens, the standard Singapore term
邻里 neighbours, the neighbourhood community
和谐 harmony, harmonious
节约 to save, to economise
浪费 waste, to waste
循环再用 recycling
Connectors 连接词
Not glamorous, but these do more for a composition's flow than any idiom. Paired structures in particular are what lift sentences above P4 level.
首先, 接着, 然后, 最后 for sequencing events
突然, 于是 for turning points and consequences
不但……而且…… not only... but also
虽然……但是…… although... still
只要……就…… as long as... then
与其……不如…… rather than... it's better to
How to actually learn these
Three to five words a week, not fifty. A word only counts as learned when your child uses it correctly without prompting. Fifty memorised words that never show up in their writing are worth nothing.
Make them write their own sentence. Copying the example sentence proves nothing. Writing a new one about their own life proves they understand when the word fits.
Say them out loud. Words learned only on paper rarely surface in the oral. Using them in conversation at home, even awkwardly, is what makes them available under exam pressure.
One idiom per paragraph, at most. Children who have just learned a batch of 成语 tend to stack four into one paragraph. Examiners read that as memorisation, not skill. One well-placed idiom beats three forced ones.
Check the fit, not just the meaning. 兴高采烈 describes visible excitement, often of a group. Using it for quiet private happiness is a common misfit. When in doubt, a plain accurate word beats a fancy wrong one.
At Yanzi Mandarin, vocabulary is taught inside real writing and speaking tasks rather than as lists to memorise, because that's the only way words make it into the exam. We run classes at Katong and Bukit Timah, and you can read more about our composition programme.
For full phrases rather than single words, see our collection of good Chinese composition phrases, and for younger children just starting picture composition, our guide to P3 Chinese composition.
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