HSK 3 · Verbs

认真 rènzhēn “serious” in Chinese

Traditional 認真

What 认真 means

  1. serious
  2. earnest
  3. take seriously
  4. conscientious
  5. to take to heart

How to say 认真

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale认rèn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale真zhēn1st tone, high and level

认真 in a sentence

  1. 他的弟弟学习很认真。

    Tā de dìdi xuéxí hěn rènzhēn.

    His younger brother studies very hard.

    Sentence #3488703 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 玩笑而已，不要太认真了。

    Wánxiào éryǐ, búyào tài rènzhēn le.

    It’s only a joke — don’t take it so seriously.

    Sentence #1766222 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 请大家认真检查一次，再把考卷交上来。

    Qǐng dàjiā rènzhēn jiǎnchá yí cì, zài bǎ kǎojuàn jiāo shànglai.

    Please check your work carefully once more, then hand in your exam papers.

    Sentence #2348891 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 认真 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 认 (rèn) with each of its parts in a different colour
认rènto recognise
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 人person · rénSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 人 (rén) hints at the sound. Compare it with rèn.

Memory aidSpeech 讠 and a person 人: to recognise someone, to know them.

The character 真 (zhēn) with each of its parts in a different colour
真zhēnreally
  • 直straight · zhí
  • 几table · jī

How to write 认真

认 4 strokes · 真 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 认真

Words with 认

认识rènshi · to know (someone)认为rènwéi · believe认得rènde · to recognise承认chéngrèn · to admit否认fǒurèn · to declare to be untrue确认quèrèn · to confirm辨认biànrèn · to identify公认gōngrèn · generally recognised认定rèndìng · to be convinced认可rènkě · to approve

Words with 真

真zhēn · true传真chuánzhēn · fax真正zhēnzhèng · genuine天真tiānzhēn · naive真实zhēnshí · true清真qīngzhēn · halal真挚zhēnzhì · sincere真理zhēnlǐ · truth真相zhēnxiàng · the truth

More words: Thinking & Talking

了解liǎojiě · comprehend明白míngbai · clear难过nánguò · be grieved认为rènwéi · believe同意tóngyì · agree完成wánchéng · to complete相信xiāngxìn · to believe小心xiǎoxīn · be careful

FAQs

认真 (rènzhēn) means “serious” or “earnest”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it rènzhēn: rèn with a 4th tone, then zhēn with a 1st 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, 认真 is written 認真. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type renzhen with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 认真 from the suggestions. Typing renzhen into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
认真 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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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.