Diminutive Suffix: 儿

[bossidy]

I've always been confused by the use of 儿. For example, I can't see why it is used in the following sentence:

这套房子从外边儿看很漂亮

Can someone provide an explanantion? Is this a regional thing?

Thanks.

[Catdiseased]

In this case, it is used not as a diminutive suffix; in fact, it doesn't have any meaning. As you said, it is a regional thing, which is characteristical for the north, especially Beijing. AFAIK, it is used mostly after nouns and verbs which end with a "n" in its pinyin. The prounounciation is a "mixture" of both words then:

bian+er => biar (or something like that, don't know how I should write it)

Some more expamples:

没门儿！ (No way!)

孩子们玩儿得不想走。

[HashiriKata]

Yes, as you guessed, it's a regional thing. It's used to spot who's not really from the same region (especially when there are just some conflicts between regions ), because the rules for attaching 儿 are not so straightforward as described above.

(But please take what I say only less-than-half seriously )

[beirne]

I have gathered from my teacher, a native Fujianese speaker, that sometimes the 儿 is used by everyone and sometimes just by people from Beijing. I learned that when I tried leaving 儿s out and she corrected me.

Another type of 儿 usage in 这儿 and nar4. I'm assuming that the 儿 doesn't mean anything and that is was just the way said it.

[Catdiseased]

Another type of 儿 usage in 这儿 and nar4. I'm assuming that the 儿 doesn't mean anything and that is was just the way said it.

Another way to say it would be 这里/那里。

I guess it is only used in spoken language.

[Guest IVYtony]

it's sometimes used in lyrics. man of north like to say "儿", people of south are not, because their tongue accent is not that soft.

[raincoat]

Another thing my teacher last time told me was when ppl put 儿 after the noun, it gives a cute/lovely feelings into that things. E.g. 狗儿，猫儿，小孩儿，etc.