"饭馆在那儿吗?"
Translation:Is the restaurant there?
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They don't sound the same. "那儿" has a retroflex "R" sound on the end. "那" on its own doesn't.
But in conversation, context is another clue to what's being said.
(If you mean "那儿" and "哪儿" sound the same, they don't either, because of the tones. And Mandarin varieties where "儿" isn't used, "那里" and "哪里" are used for "there" and "where" respectively, as opposed to "那[个]" and "哪[个]" for "that" and "which".)
2810
If you replaced 那 (nà) with 哪 (nǎ), and removed the yes/no question particle 吗, it would mean "where is the restaurant?". Very similar character and pronunciation makes it confusing at first, I made the same mistake.
But 吗 should tip you off anyway since "where is the restaurant?" isn't a yes/no question.
Yes, always. If you want a more detailed answer you can use 呢 ('ne') : "饭馆在那儿呢?" meaning 'then' or 'so', i.e. : "Is the restaurant over there, then?" or "So, is the restaurant over there?". If you want to ask "where is the restaurant?", you would write: "饭馆在哪儿" (northern dialects) or "饭馆在哪里" (southern dialects). In this case, you would use: 哪儿/哪里 (where?) instead of 那儿/那里 (that, those).
Yes, "吗" always signifies a yes/no question. However, your "呢" example is wrong.
Here's how "呢" is used:
《呢》
To soften a question or impart a quizzical tone:
- 饭馆在哪儿呢?Where is the restaurant, then? (You need a question word, "那儿" or "哪里", not "那儿" as in your example.)
To ask where something is (by implication):
- 饭馆呢?The restaurant, then?
To indicate an action in progress:
- 我(正)(在)吃饭呢。I'm in the middle of eating.
And here's another particle to consider:
《吧》
What I think you might be looking for is the suggestion particle "吧":
- 饭馆在那儿(,是)吧。The restaurant is over there, I guess. (This is an implied question.)
"Is there a restaurant?" doesn't work. I don't know why "is the restaurant there?" should work instead. Enlighten me.
Think of "那儿" or "这儿" as nouns, meaning "that place" and "this place" respectively.
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If you use "(没)有" ("to have"), put "这儿 / 那儿" in front of it.
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If you use "在" ("to be located in/at"), put "这儿 / 那儿" after it.
Examples:
- 有饭馆吗? Is there a restaurant? (Has a restaurant? / Does a restaurant exist (in this/that place)? [The location is understood.])
- 这儿有饭馆吗? Is there a restaurant here? (This place has a restaurant? / Does this place have a restaurant?)
- 那儿有饭馆吗? Is there a restaurant there? (That place has a restaurant? / Does that place have a restaurant?)
- 饭馆在这儿吗? Is the restaurant here? (The restaurant is located in this place? / Is the restaurant located here?)
- 饭馆在那儿吗? Is the restaurant there? (The restaurant is located in that place? / Is the restaurant located in that place?)
1656
Just guessing from playing around with a Chinese-English dictionary, but each of these phrases contain a character for food or meal — 餐 or 饭 — and a character denoting a (type of) building or room — 店 (shop or inn), 馆 (seems to be a bit less specific or more flexible word for a building) or 厅 (a hall). So, 饭馆 and 饭店 seem to be phrases meaning something like "food shop" while 餐厅 is more like "eating hall" or "meal hall."
(Using simplified characters rather than the traditional ones in your question.)