Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced ren
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced ren, including 人 rén, 任 rèn, 认 rèn, 忍 rěn, 仁 rén. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
To say ren, set the tongue tip back for the retroflex r, then run into en without a pause — one Mandarin block, with the tone laid over it.
Initial r
Mandarin r is softer than English r and starts with a curled tongue.
Final en
Keep the ending light and nasal.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (人 rén, 任 rèn, 认 rèn, 忍 rěn, 仁 rén) and lock in their tones. 5 common characters share the sound ren, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
ren turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 人, 仁 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 忍 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 任, 认 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing ren inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
5 common characters in this group.