HSK 1 · Question Words

哪 nǎ “which” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 哪 means

  1. which
  2. how

How to say 哪

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale哪nǎ3rd tone, dipping

哪 in a sentence

  1. 他们现在去哪？

    Tāmen xiànzài qù nǎ?

    Where are they going to right now?

    Sentence #7772573 from Tatoeba

  2. 你爸爸在哪？

    Nǐ bàba zài nǎ?

    Where is your dad?

    Sentence #13189733 from Tatoeba

  3. 我不知道你要去哪。

    Wǒ bù zhīdao nǐ yào qù nǎ.

    I don’t know where you want to go.

    Sentence #4504264 from Tatoeba

How 哪 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 哪 (nǎ) with each of its parts in a different colour
哪nǎhow
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 那that · nàSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 那 (nà) hints at the sound. Compare it with nǎ.

Memory aidA mouth 口 added to 那 (nà) “that” makes a question: which? where?

How to write 哪

哪 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

哪 (nǎ) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 哪 (nǎ). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 哪

Words with 哪

哪儿nǎr · where哪些nǎxiē · which ones?哪里nǎlǐ · where?哪个nǎge · which one?哪怕nǎpà · even

More words: Question Words

谁shéi · who什么shénme · what哪儿nǎr · where怎么zěnme · how怎么样zěnmeyàng · how is it几jǐ · how many (small)哪里nǎlǐ · where?哪个nǎge · which one?

FAQs

哪 (nǎ) means “which” or “how”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it nǎ: nǎ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 哪 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type na with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 哪 from the suggestions. Typing na into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
哪 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.