HSK 6 · Emotions

纳闷儿 nàmènr “to feel puzzled” in Chinese

Traditional 納悶兒

What 纳闷儿 means

  1. to feel puzzled
  2. to wonder

How to say 纳闷儿

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale纳nà4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale闷mèn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own儿rneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

纳闷儿 in a sentence

  1. 他今天怎么没来上班？我正纳闷儿呢。

    Tā jīntiān zěnme méi lái shàngbān? Wǒ zhèng nàmènr ne.

    Why didn’t he come to work today? I was just wondering.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 大家都很纳闷儿，她为什么突然搬家了。

    Dàjiā dōu hěn nàmènr, tā wèishénme tūrán bānjiā le.

    Everyone is puzzled about why she suddenly moved house.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 纳闷儿 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 纳 (nà) with each of its parts in a different colour
纳nàto receive
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 内inside · nèiSound part

纟 hints at the meaning (silk); 内 (nèi) hints at the sound. Compare it with nà.

The character 闷 (mèn) with each of its parts in a different colour
闷mènbored
  • 门gate · ménSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 门 (mén) hints at the sound. Compare it with mèn.

The character 儿 (ér) with each of its parts in a different colour
儿rnon-syllabic diminutive suffix
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 乚second (cyclical) form of 乙 · yǐ

Memory aidSimplified from 兒, a child drawn with a big head. Only the legs 儿 are left today.

How to write 纳闷儿

纳 7 strokes · 闷 7 strokes · 儿 2 strokes

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

纳闷儿 (nàmènr) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 纳闷儿 (nàmènr). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 纳闷儿

Words with 纳

归纳guīnà · to sum up采纳cǎinà · to adopt容纳róngnà · to hold缴纳jiǎonà · to pay (taxes or fees)

Words with 闷

沉闷chénmèn · oppressive

Words with 儿

儿子érzi · son女儿nǚ'ér · daughter哪儿nǎr · where这儿zhèr · here那儿nàr · there一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little面条儿miàntiáor · noodles好玩儿hǎowánr · amusing有点儿yǒudiǎnr · slightly男孩儿nánháir · boy

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

留恋liúliàn · to be reluctant to leave茫然mángrán · at a loss藐视miǎoshì · to despise蔑视mièshì · to despise难堪nánkān · embarrassed恼火nǎohuǒ · annoyed迫不及待pòbùjídài · too impatient to wait魄力pòlì · boldness

FAQs

纳闷儿 (nàmènr) means “to feel puzzled” or “to wonder”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it nàmènr: nà with a 4th tone, then mèn with a 4th tone, then r with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 纳闷儿 is written 納悶兒. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type namenr with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 纳闷儿 from the suggestions. Typing namenr into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
纳闷儿 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.