When should be used 这里 or 这儿? Same with 那里 and 那儿.

[miguelusque]

Hi!

 

     I am a very beginner Mandarin Chinese student and I always have the doubt of when using words which seems to be very similar in meaning.

 

     In this case, I do not know when should I use 这里 instead of 这儿. Same problem with 那里 and 那儿.

 

     Could you give me any explanation?

 

     Thanks!!!!

 

[Lu]

这里 and 这儿 mean the exact same thing. The difference is that generally, people from southern China use 这里/那里/哪里 and people from the north 这儿/那儿/哪儿. So really you can use either. It's best if you're consistent about it and don't use 那儿 and 这里 in the same sentence/conversation/essay.

[Demonic_Duck]

“这儿”, “那儿” and “哪儿” are also a bit more informal. I'd recommend against using them in formal writing. Also, in contexts where it's obvious what is meant, you can drop the “儿” in informal writing (e.g. texting friends). For example, “你去哪了？” = “你去哪儿了？” = “你去哪里了？”

[Video Vocabulary]

这里 and 这儿 mean the exact same thing. The difference is that generally, people from southern China use 这里/那里/哪里 and people from the north 这儿/那儿/哪儿.

 

Precisely, 这儿/那儿/哪儿 are not common in the South and perhaps in Taiwan too ))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaJbKik-sXI

[Lu]

Precisely, 这儿/那儿/哪儿 are not common in the South and perhaps in Taiwan too ))

Taiwan is linguistically part of the South. All 这里 and 那里 there too.

 

And nice video clip! Every word sounds so, so familiar. From her accent to how she gets Beijinghua wrong to the way he corrects her :-)

[Demonic_Duck]

@Video Vocabulary/arreke (assuming you're arreke due to same avatar and similar posting content?)

 

Someone has to make that sarcastic impression at the end into a Wechat sticker and send it to me.

 

Edit: Did it myself.

[vellocet]

More Chinese people say 那里 than say 那儿.  True fact.  A sobering thought when you read through your entire textbook and 那里 is not mentioned once.  What else are they leaving out?

[Demonic_Duck]

If your textbook is a 口语 textbook and was printed in Beijing by 北京语言大学出版社 or similar, it's hardly surprising.

[Shelley]

You should post her in the "how do you say WTF? in chinese" post