那裡 and 那兒

[aafrophone]

is there a difference between the two words 那裡 and 那兒 for the meaning "there"?

[muyongshi]

In a word: no

[y_104hao]

是同一个意思

在那里，在那儿

over there

[82riceballs]

their meaning is exactly the same: there

u could also say 那, leaving out the 裡/兒 (i know that in taiwan some ppl do that, not sure abt china)

i think that 那兒 is found more often in beijing dialect (since beijing ppl like 兒), but also sometimes in other dialects. 那裡 is said everywhere.

[SWWLiu]

那裡 and 那兒

is there a difference between the two words 那裡 and 那兒 for the meaning "there"?

I noticed that no respondent asked you how you should pronounce them, presumably because you only asked for any difference in meaning. (Do you find a difference in pronunciation, depending on whether the expression is embedded in a declarative or interrogative sentence?)

[monto]

The same in meaning.

However there is difference. 那裡 is more formal, written while 那兒 is more oral.

You should not put 那兒 in an official peper or something like that.

[aafrophone]

regarding #5 (sorry, i don't know how to quote people) is there a difference between pronunciation when written and when pronounced?

[SWWLiu]

在那儿？ zai4 na3 er2?

Where is it?

After finding it or being pointed out to:

在那儿! zai4 na4 er !

Over there!

[adrianlondon]

Are you from Taiwan? I think they often write 哪 as 那 there.

"where is it?" is 在哪儿？ or 在哪里？

[SWWLiu]

I'm from Taiwan, but I would consider 哪 in "在哪儿？" a typographical error for "在那儿？".

哪 should only be used in exclamation, as in "天哪 !" (as in OMG!), not as a demonstrative pronoun. What do you think?

[zozzen]

Almost the same, except in one situation. When you're flattered, always says "那裡, 那裡" to express humility, never say "那兒那兒".

[yonglin]

I think that we should try to accommodate beginners by writing the pinyin of 那儿 as "nàr" rather than "nàer" (which might be merely a bad habit from using pinyin input too much) or nàér (which is just incorrect: there's simply no tone on that syllable, and even less a second tone).

I have a classmate who keeps pronouncing 空儿 as kòng'ér, and I suspect that this might be related to the fact that our teacher is very lazy and only issues automated pinyin transcriptions (on which kòngr is indeed written as "kòng ér").

My personal opinion is that many foreigners tend to use 儿 excessively when they speak Mandarin. I think that unless you can reproduce the sound very accurately (which not many non-native speakers can: most tend to roll it far too much), it usually sounds better if you just cut it out.

[SWWLiu]

Very interesting point, zozzen. Humility (false or not) demands "那裡, 那裡", "那裡的話,"沒這回事儿", etc. However, you will say "那兒?那兒?", if you want to hear more of the praise, won't you? (Just kidding ...)