TongTong
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那儿 (nà r) — there

Definition

那 is 'that/there' and 儿 marks this as the casual spoken form, parallel to 这儿 ('here'). Use 那里 in writing or formal speech; 那边 means 'over there' with a sense of direction.

pronoun
there
Easily confused

Examples

  • 那儿？
    Nǐ zhù zài nà r ma?
    Do you live there?
  • 那儿。
    Wǒ qù nà r.
    I'm going there.
  • 那儿。
    nà r Yǒu yí gè rén.
    There is a person there.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

那nàthat
儿érplace

The 那 'that' gains a place sense from 儿, giving 'there'.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
邑邑yìcity
Sound part声符shēngfú
冄
冉rǎn那nà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The right part 邑 shows a city, and the left part 冄 (written 冉) gives the sound. The character first named a state and was later used to mean 'that'.

Open 那 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 儿 is a simple drawing of a standing person, used as an alternate form of the character for person.

Open 儿 →
Appears in
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