Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced tan
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced tan, including 谈 tán, 弹 dàn / tán, 探 tàn, 坦 tǎn, 叹 tàn. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
For tan, push a small puff of air on t, join it to an, and hold the tone over the whole syllable.
Initial t
Start the syllable on the initial t, then run straight into the final an — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final an
Keep an short and open; do not turn it into ang.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (谈 tán, 弹 dàn / tán, 探 tàn, 坦 tǎn, 叹 tàn) and lock in their tones. 11 common characters share the sound tan, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
tan 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: 贪, 滩, 摊 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 谈, 坛, 谭 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 坦 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 弹, 探, 叹… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing tan inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
11 common characters in this group.