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让

ràng

Step aside and the way opens: 让

The picture You were blocking the way; you move aside and the other person goes through. 让 steps aside and lets the other one go; 叫 calls them over and tells them to come.

Core verbs

Where the picture shows up in 让

  1. shift your body aside

    请让一下。

    qǐng ràng yíxià

    Excuse me, coming through.

    Someone blocking a narrow aisle turning sideways against the wall so the person behind can pass

  2. hand over the spot

    请把座位让给他。

    qǐng bǎ zuòwèi rànggěi tā

    Please give him your seat.

    A seated passenger standing up and leaving the empty chair open toward an elderly passenger

  3. clear the way and he goes

    老板让我明天来。

    lǎobǎn ràng wǒ míngtiān lái

    My boss told me to come in tomorrow.

    The boss stepping away from the door so that tomorrow you walk in through it

    English says 'told me to', but the picture is permission-shaped: leaving the way open, not barking an order.

  4. let someone end up in that state

    让您久等了。

    ràng nín jiǔ děng le

    Sorry to have kept you waiting.

    Turning up late and leaving the other person sitting in an empty chair for a long stretch

  5. leave me a moment of room

    让我想想。

    ràng wǒ xiǎngxiang

    Let me think about it.

    Holding up a palm against someone's pressing and buying yourself a gap to think in

All of it in one picture

让 is a body moving out of the way so the other one can go through. Shift aside and you let them pass; vacate the chair and you give up your seat; the boss clears the path and so you come in tomorrow. Leave someone parked in the waiting and you kept them waiting; ask for a gap for yourself and it becomes let me think. Read 让 as the gesture of standing aside rather than as force, and all five uses fall onto one line.

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