人
person; people
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HSK level
- Pinyin
- rén
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 2
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个 / 位
- In episodes
- 11
Stroke order for 人
人 is written with 2 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 人 mean?
人 (rén) is the basic noun for 'person' or 'people' and one of the first characters every Chinese child learns to write — it's just two strokes, picturing a standing person with legs apart.
It's both singular and plural: 一个人 means 'one person,' 很多人 means 'many people,' and bare 人 in context can mean 'humans / mankind.' It pairs with country names to form nationality words: 中国人 (Chinese person), 美国人 (American), 法国人 (French person).
It also appears in countless compounds: 男人 (man), 女人 (woman), 家人 (family member), 大人 (adult). In English the line between 'person' and 'people' depends on number; in Chinese 人 covers both, and the measure word (个 for casual, 位 for polite) does the counting work.
Memory hook: Two strokes — legs of a standing figure. Literally a stick-figure person.
Hear 人 in real episodes
人 appears in 11 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed, 4 of them below. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
一百个人挤进了伦敦东边的一个大房间。
One hundred people crowded into a large room in east London.
Sequoia Capital Exits London as UK Venture Capital Chases AI 'Adonises' — Record $26bn Invested but Fewer Deals
比看Netflix的人多。
More people watch it than Netflix.
YouTube Takes 15.8% of US TV Viewing as Hollywood Fights Back
那天，美国也在选举，人们在选人。
That day, the US was also holding elections; people were choosing candidates.
Trump Moves to Cut Israel Military Aid as Republicans Blame Israel for Midterm Defeat
飞机上的九个人全死了。
All nine people on the plane died.
Learjet Crashes in Florida, Killing All Nine Aboard
Example sentences
我是中国人。
Wǒ shì Zhōngguó rén.
I'm Chinese.
neutral
这儿有很多人。
Zhèr yǒu hěn duō rén.
There are a lot of people here.
spoken
他是一个好人。
Tā shì yí ge hǎo rén.
He's a good person.
neutral
我一个人去。
Wǒ yí ge rén qù.
I'll go alone.
spoken
Common phrases with 人
Synonyms
人们 explicitly means 'people' (plural, generic), used in writing and formal contexts: 人们都喜欢 ('everyone likes'). Spoken Chinese usually just says 人 or 大家.
Don't confuse 人 with
入 means 'to enter' and looks almost identical to 人 — the top stroke goes the other way. 入 starts with the rightward stroke first; 人 starts with the leftward stroke. Tiny shape difference, completely different meaning.
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
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