When 人 is used as a suffix the reading could be jin or nin (or other readings?).
犯人 - はんにん
別人 - べつじん
Is there a general rule to tell when the reading will be jin vs nin, or should I just learn it case by case?
Answer
Both ジン and ニン are 音読み of the character 人. ジン is the 漢読み and ニン is the 呉読み (See http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/113338/meaning/m0u/).
Unfortunately, there's no easy way to know which reading to use for all cases since it depends on when the word was imported from China or alternately invented in Japan.
There's also a set of 訓読み to be aware of : ひと、びと、 and うと in compound words. And completely irregular readings like [大人]{おとな} -- interestingly there's also a [大人]{ダイジン} reading which is less frequent.
One thing I can suggest is that nationalities are all ジン : [中国人]{チュウゴクジン}, [フランス人]{フランスジン}, など
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