Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced chen
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced chen, including 称 chēng / chèn / chèng, 陈 chén, 沉 chén, 臣 chén, 晨 chén. Compare tones, meanings…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
chen begins with the tongue curled up and back for ch; let it slide straight into en and carry the tone across the whole sound, rather than spelling out English letters.
Initial ch
Like zh, but with a clear puff of air.
Final en
Keep the ending light and nasal.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (称 chēng / chèn / chèng, 陈 chén, 沉 chén, 臣 chén, 晨 chén) and lock in their tones. 10 common characters share the sound chen, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
chen turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 称 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 陈, 沉, 臣… (6 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 沈 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 趁, 衬 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing chen inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
10 common characters in this group.