那是 (nà shi) — (colloquial, interjection-like) of course; naturally; you bet

Definition

A colloquial, sentence-final tag meaning 'of course / naturally!' — used as an interjection-like reply, not as the literal 'that is'. Spoken and casual in tone.

verb
(colloquial, interjection-like) of coursenaturallyyou bet

Examples

  • ？那是！
    Nǐ jué de zhè ge diàn yǐng hǎo kàn ma? nà shi!
    Do you think this movie is good? Of course!
  • 。那是，。
    Tā de hàn yǔ shuō dé zhēn hǎo. nà shi, tā xué le shí nián le.
    His Chinese is really good. Naturally, he's been studying for ten years.
  • 。那是，。
    Zhè shì wǒ men zuì hǎo de chǎn pǐn. nà shi, zhì liàng méi huà shuō.
    This is our best product. Of course, the quality is unquestionable.

Origin

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 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 是 →

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