Many overseas students ask this question because they may think -儿 is the phenomenon only exists in Beijing dialect, which was actually proved to be wrong. When the foreigners learn in some free Chinese lessons, they will be taught -儿 is not unique to Beijing dialect. It also exists in the dialects in the areas of Northeast China, North China, Northwest China, Southeast China and even Zhejiang area.

It is just that the -儿 in Beijing dialect is the same as that in Mandarin in pronunciation. However, the students who want to know how to study Chinese should know the basic about this word that is the number of -儿 words in Beijing dialect is more than that in Mandarin. Therefore, the Chinese language teachers need to pay much attention to it when teaching.

Form most Beijing people, the 儿phenomenon of the words is just a kind of language habit with string Beijing characteristic. However, this language phenomenon is of great importance. Generally speaking, the students can remember -儿 as the symbol of being noun in Mandarin which has the same function with -子 .

In addition, it has more functions as follows. The first one that the learners need to know when they study Mandarin Chinese is the function of distinguishing part of speech and word meaning. For example, 错is an adjective meaning something is wrong but 错儿is a noun carries the meaning of mistake or fault like挑错儿.

Besides, it can be applied to tell apart the meanings of words. The typical example is the word 信, meaning a letter like 一有她的信我就给你送去. However, 信儿means news like that in the sentence 一有她的信儿我就告诉你.

The last but not least function of -儿 is to express the emotional colorings and attached meanings. When the overseas students who got internships in China see the words like 冰棍儿and狼孩儿, they may know it attaches the meaning that something is small or tiny. Usually, 头儿and 狗儿爷can express the intimate relationship. Sometimes, it carries the implication of not important like 没事儿and小青年儿.