呐

吶

na / nà

particle #1,679

Meanings

1 sentence-final particle expressing emphasis or encouragement
2 variant of 哪 / 啊 after -n endings

Characters

呐

sentence-final particle expressing emphasis or encouragement

Examples

快走呐！

Kuàizǒu na!

Hurry up and go!

加油呐！

Jiāyóu na!

Come on, you can do it!

你说呐？

Nǐ shuō na?

So what do you say?

Tips

grammar

The particle 啊 shifts shape according to the preceding sound: 呀 after -a / -o / -e / -i, 哇 after -u / -ao, and 呐 after -n. In casual writing many speakers just keep 啊.

Toneless 呐 is colloquial and warm — common in spoken Beijing speech and casual prose for encouragement or a softening prod. The fourth-tone 呐 (to shout) is a completely separate reading; don't confuse the two.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Mouth radical (Kangxi #30) — fitting for a sentence-final particle, which is literally a sound the mouth makes to colour the utterance. The same radical groups the modal-particle family 吧, 呢, 啊, 哈.

phonetic

内 nèi

inside; inner

Right side gives the sound. The particle reading is toneless na, a weakened drift from the same 内 phonetic that yields fourth-tone nà in the shouting reading. The graphic structure is identical across both readings — only the tone (and meaning) differ.

Stroke Order

呐 na

呐