Pinyin chart · cen
How to say cen
cen in its 2 tones, said in a female or a male voice. Tap a tone to hear it.
cen
Tap a tone to hear it; tap it again to hear it slower.
How to say it
c: Like the ts in “cats”, with a strong puff of air. It is never a k or an s sound.
en: en is the “uh” of e followed by n; eng ends in the ng of “sing” instead.
Its tones
cēn 参 uneven · cén 涔 waterlogged. cěn and cèn aren’t used in standard Mandarin. The pinyin trainer practices telling them apart in real words.
Sounds near it
Learners often mix cen up with these. Listen to them one after the other.
The voices are generated speech (ElevenLabs), the same two the app’s word cards use, each tone said as one real word. The words are from the official HSK list (the exam’s 2025 syllabus), easiest first. Every syllable is on the pinyin chart.