Erhua

Also known as: erization, 儿化 (érhuà) and 儿化音 (érhuàyīn).

Level

A2

"Erhua" refers to the addition of a final "-r" sound to a syllable in Mandarin. It is especially common in the Beijing dialect, but is also a feature of standard Chinese as well.

A Few Rules about Erhua

Erhua can be confusing to beginners because it's slightly more complicated than simply adding an "-r" sound to the end of a syllable.

The character 儿 (ér) can be a syllable, as in the two-syllable word 儿子 (érzi), but erhua is not a syllable; it is pronounced as part of the syllable that it comes after
When you add erhua to the end of a syllable ending in -n or -ng, you don't pronounce the -n or -ng (even though you still write it); you pronounce the final -r sound instead
The vowel sound of a syllable may change slightly with the addition of the erhua (e.g. "shi + -r" may sound kind of like "shar")
Erhua can be written as 儿, but it doesn't need to be written to be pronounced (e.g. a southerner will generally pronounce 花 as "huā", but a Beijinger will pronounce it as "huār")

Common Examples of Erhua

这儿zhèr here
那儿nàr there
哪儿nǎr where
玩儿wánr to play
好玩儿hǎowánr fun
小孩儿xiǎoháir child
女孩儿nǚháir girl
男孩儿nánháir boy
花儿huār flower
一点儿yīdiǎnr a little as quantifier
有点儿yǒudiǎnr a little bit as an adverb
一会儿yīhuǐr, yīhuìr a while; after a while
没事儿méishìr it's OK; not a problem.
一半儿yībànr half
小鸟儿xiǎo niǎor little bird
土豆儿tǔdòur potato
羊肉串儿yángròuchuànr mutton skewers
生鱼片儿shēngyú piānr sashimi
馅儿xiànr stuffing

Writing Erhua

For a few select words, it is customary to write out the erhua using the character 儿:

这儿zhèr here
那儿nàr there
哪儿nǎr where

Optional Erhua

For many other words, writing the 儿 is optional. Northerners will likely pronounce the following words with erhua, no matter whether it is written with or without the 儿.

花(儿)huār flower
小鸟(儿)xiǎoniǎor little bird
小孩(儿)xiǎoháir child
好玩(儿)hǎowánr interesting;fun
羊肉串(儿)yángròuchuànr mutton skewers
生鱼片(儿)shēngyú piānr sashimi
没事(儿)méishìr That's ok.
土豆(儿)tǔdòur potato
小偷(儿)xiǎotōur thief
一半(儿)yībànr half
有点(儿)yǒudiǎnr a little bit as an adverb
一点(儿)yīdiǎnr a little as a quantifier

Sources and further reading