让 (ràng) · to let, to allow, to make (sb do sth)

Meanings

1 to let
2 to allow
3 to make (sb do sth)

Characters

让

ràng

let; allow; yield

Examples

HSK 1

让我想一想。

Ràng wǒ xiǎng yī xiǎng.

Let me think about it.

HSK 2

妈妈不让我出去玩。

Māma bú ràng wǒ chūqù wán.

Mom won't let me go out to play.

HSK 3

这件事让我很开心。

Zhè jiàn shì ràng wǒ hěn kāixīn.

This matter makes me very happy.

Tips

grammar

Key causative pattern: 让 + person + verb. Works like English 'let/make someone do something'.

usage

Also means 'to yield/give way': 让座 = to give up one's seat, 让路 = to make way.

Components

radical

讠 yán

speech (left-side form)

Left speech radical 讠 - the contracted side-form of 言 (kept in traditional 讓). Anchors 让 in the speech-act family alongside 说, 请, 谢, 谅. Carries the meaning core: yielding to someone or telling them to go ahead is fundamentally a spoken act of giving way. Originally 让 meant 'to call out yielding,' a verbal form of polite deference.

phonetic

上 shàng

up; above

Right component supplies the sound: 上 shàng → ràng - a major Old Chinese sound shift that's no longer transparent in modern Mandarin. Note this is the simplified 让; the traditional 讓 had the much more obvious phonetic 襄 xiāng. The 1956 reform substituted 上 to cut strokes, sacrificing phonetic transparency for writing speed. The 'up' meaning of 上 plays no role.