那grammar point · tier 1 · discourse 那 (in that case / then)
· nà
Discourse connective: take what was just said as given, then draw the next move from it — in that case, then.
字源 FORM what the parts do
This is the 那 that points far off, a town-ear (阝, 邑) carrying the meaning and 冄 lending a sound long since worn. The graph is borrowed for both jobs, so neither half spells the connector. Here the pointing turns back on a thing already said: 那 takes the last statement as the spot it points at, and the clause after it steps off from there.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A finger lands back on the words just spoken, then the foot carries forward from that fixed spot onto new ground.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[A's statement] 。 那 [B's move that follows from it]
觸 · Trigger
Someone has just said something; take it as settled and draw your next move from it.
序 · The move
1Anchor 那 to the statement already on the table.Is there a prior utterance to point back at? If the condition is still hypothetical, this is 如果, not 那.
2Open the new clause with the move that follows from it, often with 就.Does the clause step forward from the given footing, not restate it?
3Read it back as point-then-step.那 fixes the footing; the clause goes somewhere new. If the new clause merely reproduces the prior statement, the order is wrong.
例 · Examples
1A：冰箱裡的東西都可以自己拿來吃。B：謝謝，那in that case, then — taking A's offer as given我就then (the move that follows)不客氣not stand on ceremony, help oneself了。
A: Help yourself to anything in the fridge. B: Thanks, then I won't stand on ceremony.
What the footing is. 那 takes a thing already said as given and steps off it; 如果 sets up a condition that has not happened yet. Already-uttered -> 那; still hypothetical -> 如果.
Length, same job. 那 is the clipped everyday form of the connector; 那麼 is the fuller, slightly more formal one. Both take the prior statement as footing.
discourse 那 vs deictic 那
What it points at. The connective 那 points back at a whole statement to step off it (in that case); the demonstrative 那 points at a far thing in the room (that one, over there).
✗ 如果我就不客氣了。 → ✓ 那我就不客氣了。 (the offer was already made, not hypothetical)
✗ 那你想吃什麼？(with nothing said before) → ✓ open with the question alone; 那 needs a prior statement to anchor to
✗ 你要那個。(meaning 'in that case, take it') → ✓ 那你就拿吧。 (deictic 那個 = that object; connective 那 opens the clause)
English 'then' covers both time-sequence ('and then we left') and this in-that-case footing. Learners reach for 那 where the sentence means time-order, where Chinese uses 然後 instead.