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

HSK 1

快走呐！

Kuàizǒu na!

Hurry up and go!

HSK 1

你说呐？

Nǐ shuō na?

So what do you say?

HSK 2

加油呐！

Jiāyóu na!

Come on, you can do it!

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 呐 in the shouting reading. The graphic structure is identical across both readings - only the tone (and meaning) differ.

Stroke Order

呐 na

呐