HSK 5 · Work

担任 dānrèn “to hold (a post)” in Chinese

Traditional 擔任

What 担任 means

  1. to hold (a post)
  2. to serve as
  3. to hold a governmental office or post
  4. to assume office of
  5. to take charge of

How to say 担任

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale担dān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale任rèn4th tone, falling

担任 in a sentence

  1. 我在乐队里担任键盘手。

    Wǒ zài yuèduì lǐ dānrèn jiànpánshǒu.

    I’m the keyboard player in the band.

    Sentence #14061603 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我叔叔让我担任翻译。

    Wǒ shūshu ràng wǒ dānrèn fānyì.

    My uncle had me act as his interpreter.

    Sentence #801959 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 上大学的时候，小王担任过班长。

    Shàng dàxué de shíhou, Xiǎo Wáng dānrèn guo bānzhǎng.

    At university, Xiao Wang served as class monitor.

    Sentence #717407 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 担任 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 担 (dān) with each of its parts in a different colour
担dānto undertake
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 旦dawn · dànSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 旦 (dàn) hints at the sound. Compare it with dān.

The character 任 (rèn) with each of its parts in a different colour
任rènto assign
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 壬part of the characterSound part

How to write 担任

担 8 strokes · 任 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

担任 (dānrèn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 担任 (dānrèn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 担任

Words with 担

担心dānxīn · to worry承担chéngdān · to take on (responsibility)担保dānbǎo · to guarantee负担fùdān · burden

Words with 任

任务rènwu · mission责任zérèn · responsibility任何rènhé · any信任xìnrèn · to trust主任zhǔrèn · director任性rènxìng · wilful任命rènmìng · to appoint上任shàngrèn · to take office任意rènyì · at will任重道远rènzhòngdàoyuǎn · to carry a heavy responsibility (lit. heavy load

More words: Work & Career

打工dǎgōng · to work a casual or part-time job待遇dàiyù · treatment贷款dàikuǎn · a loan单位dānwèi · unit (of measurement)导演dǎoyǎn · director (of a film or play)改革gǎigé · reform工程师gōngchéngshī · engineer工人gōngrén · worker

FAQs

担任 (dānrèn) means “to hold (a post)” or “to serve as”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dānrèn: dān with a 1st tone, then rèn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 担任 is written 擔任. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type danren with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 担任 from the suggestions. Typing danren into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
担任 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.