New Members cecilia532 Posted July 26, 2011 at 06:56 AM New Members Report Share Posted July 26, 2011 at 06:56 AM "I see 儿 attached to the end of a lot of words. Is this as a diminutive term? It (儿) seems to mean 'child', but then so does 小孩儿 and apparently so does 小孩。 Are these all related to the age of the child being referred to? 儿 for a baby, 小孩儿 for a 'toddler' and 小孩 for older children?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter2010 Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:21 AM Report Share Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:21 AM Are these all related to the age of the child being referred to? 儿 for a baby, 小孩儿 for a 'toddler' and 小孩 for older children?" I'm afraid not. 小孩儿=小孩. Take a look at this please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SherryChen Posted July 26, 2011 at 12:29 PM Report Share Posted July 26, 2011 at 12:29 PM 儿 doesn't mean the baby. when you see the 小孩儿 maybe kind of dialect. usually we say 小孩. their meanings are totally same. i guess that 儿 might be kind of cute way to describe something 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbradfor Posted July 26, 2011 at 03:16 PM Report Share Posted July 26, 2011 at 03:16 PM 兒(儿) has two meanings: "child/son", and to represent the final "r" sound in some (mainly northern) dialects. The latter is more common. Examples of the former are 兒童, 女兒, 幼兒, 小兒科. In these cases, 儿 is pronounced as ér, and is a separate syllable. In general, for the latter usage, the use of 兒 does not change the meaning, and is only a dialect pronunciation. There are a couple words, but very few, in which the use of 兒 does change the meaning or reduce ambiguity. I believe there are some words in standard Mandarin that do use 兒 in this way, but I can never remember which they are. EDIT: opps, just noticed in post #2 the link to the wikipedia page. That is a much better description of the second usage than I did..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members vivianomylife2011 Posted July 31, 2011 at 06:24 PM New Members Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 at 06:24 PM quote: 【兒(儿) has two meanings: "child/son", and to represent the final "r" sound in some (mainly northern) dialects. The latter is more common.】 Eg： 小孩儿 一会儿 一下儿 好玩儿 唱歌儿 课本儿 …… it doesn't change the meaning. It's coming from Beijing dialect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renzhe Posted July 31, 2011 at 09:00 PM Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 at 09:00 PM the use of 兒 does not change the meaning it doesn't change the meaning We've discussed this in some other thread (there have been many over the years), and it actually often affects the meaning. The change is often subtle, though. For example, it is often used as a sign of affection, after names. It can disambiguate between verb/noun pairs, such as 画 / 画儿 . 画 can mean either "drawing" or "to draw". 画儿 can only mean "drawing". Similarly, 花儿 can only mean "flower", it cannot mean "to spend", while 花 can mean both. One example where the meaning is changed is 明儿, "tomorrow". 明 alone can't be used like that, you need to say 明天 or 明日. So it's true that it usually doesn't flat out change the meaning (completely), but it's more than just an accent. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbradfor Posted July 31, 2011 at 11:32 PM Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 at 11:32 PM I assume you mean this thread? [You also quoted me out of context. But I'll forgive you...] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renzhe Posted August 1, 2011 at 10:54 AM Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 at 10:54 AM You're right. I have wronged you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonic_Duck Posted September 1, 2011 at 02:16 AM Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 at 02:16 AM Is it better to learn the pronunciations with or without 兒/儿? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted September 1, 2011 at 10:10 AM Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 at 10:10 AM Depends. In the north, it'd be a good idea, though you should be careful not to start slapping an 儿 on every syllable. In the south, it's not used all that often, and while you'll mostly still be understood if you use 儿s, sometimes it can trip locals up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renzhe Posted September 1, 2011 at 10:27 AM Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 at 10:27 AM IMHO, if in doubt, it's always best to stick to the standard. You can add the local touch later, once you're fluent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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