哪 (nǎ) means "which" with HSK 1 on the new exam.
Pronunciation
Meaning
Primary: which
Etymology
Oracle-bone origin
哪 has no oracle-bone or bronze ancestor. It is a late phono-semantic compound built from 口 (mouth, semantic, marking it as a speech particle) plus 那 (nà, phonetic). 那 itself originally referred to a place name in ancient Shu and only later took on the demonstrative meaning 'that'.
Form evolution
As a character coined for colloquial Mandarin interrogatives, 哪 appears reliably only from the Ming and Qing periods onward in vernacular writing. Its clerical and standard 楷书 forms are essentially identical, consisting of the 口 radical on the left and 那 on the right with no internal simplification.
How the meaning evolved
哪 was created specifically to disambiguate the interrogative 'which / where' from the demonstrative 那 'that' in written vernacular, since both were pronounced similarly. In modern Mandarin it carries only interrogative and exclamatory functions, as in 哪里 (where), 哪个 (which), and the fused particle 哪 after words ending in -n.
Cultural note
The mythological figure 哪吒 (Nézhā) uses this character for the first syllable, read nuó in that name, preserving a reading that predates the standard nǎ/na pronunciations. Learners often confuse 哪 with 那 because the only visible difference is the 口 radical.
Basic info
| Pinyin | nǎ |
| Meanings | which |
| New HSK exam | Recognise at HSK 1 |
| Frequency | #774 most common |
Example sentences
Words containing 哪
On the new HSK 1 exam
Studying for HSK 1? Keep 哪 with the rest of your level.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Appears in these articles
- Beginner Chinese Vocabulary: The First 200 Words to Learn
- 50 Chinese Greetings for Every Situation (Beyond 你好)
- Chinese Travel Vocabulary: 150 Essential Words & Phrases for Your Trip
- Complete HSK 2 Study Guide: Master Elementary Chinese in 3 Months
- New HSK 1 Under HSK 3.0: What Changed & How to Prepare (2026)
Reviewed by RJ Murray, Founder, HSK Lord.