今儿 or 今儿个 - today 昨儿 - yesterday (I once heard somebody say 昨儿晚儿 for "yesterday evening", but that's apparently too extreme and I got told off my my teacher for saying it). 明儿 - tomorrow 后儿 - two days from now 地儿 - place (you can also say what is pronounced as 地方儿, but I've never seen this written down) 这样儿 / 那样儿 - in this way / in that way 哥们儿 - brother (meaning mate or buddy) 一下儿 - for a short while (when attached to verbs. We don't have this in English, but they have it in other languages. I suppose it's a bit like the difference between saying "I'm going to go to the shop" and "I just going to pop to the shops for a bit", if that makes sense). 眼镜儿 - sunglasses 门儿 / 门口儿 - door or doorway 足球儿 - football 小说儿 - novel (as in a book) 电影儿 - movie 唱歌儿 - to sing (a) song(s) 墨水儿 - ink 照片儿 - picture. Not that what is without the 儿 pronounced zhao4pian4 becomes zhao4pian1er with the 儿 (if you listen to Chinese people from the Beijing area, they often say zhao4pian1, which is wrong) 外号儿 - nickname 公园儿 / 花园儿 - park / flower garden 天儿 - weather 脸儿 - face 圈儿 - circle 一半儿 - one half of something. This can be combined in phrases like 他呢？他是混血儿，他是一半儿一半儿。 "Oh, him? He's a person of mixed race. (not that in 混血儿, the e suffix if pronounced separate and it's a three syllable word). He's half and half. 多半儿 - most of 头儿 - boss (not a respectful term, DO NOT call you actually boss 头儿) 桌儿 - table 词儿 - word 刺儿 - little spikes/thistles on flowers like roses 分儿 = 分数 - points of score. Like the marks you get in an exam can be called 分儿 中间儿 - the space between two things 字儿 - word 子儿 - seed like in a pepper 勺儿 - spoon 盘儿 - plate 风味儿 or just 味儿 - flavour or taste

Now, the far lesson common examples are not often written down. Generally speaking, you don't write this 儿 down (unless one of the common examples above. The more you read, the better you get a know whether or not you should write it down). I, for example have seen 影儿 written down (影子 - shadow) in a book, but was told by a friend not to write it down when I messaged her. If you hear someone from 北京 or 河北 read Chinese aloud, the add this 儿化音 instinctively, it's natural. I will list some words below that are lesson common, but used in the Beijing dialect. I wouldn't go around speaking using all of these words cause you're gonna sound like a 70 year old Beijing taxi driver, unless you want to sound like that. If you do, then feel free, and I'd recommend listening to native Beijingers or people from the the 东北 region speak. Note that there are other differences in the Beijing dialect to standard Mandarin. You can, for example, say 啥 instead of 什么, 为啥 for 为什么 for why and 咋 instead of 怎么 for how. These is a good 相声 (Crosstalk) sketch I watched which talks about the differences, it was called 北京华宇普通话的不同. Here is the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34JdOxJmG54. In the last minute of a video it gives a really great example of how real Beijing dialect is different from even Mandarin spoken in Beijing. It's not just this 儿化音 that gets added, there are other differences, too. I've never seen anyone from Shanghai say, or write "䁖" meaning 看 before. A friend of mine from Shanghai (a university graduate), actually told me that he's never even seen that character before. That's just one example.

You can't add this 儿 willy-nilly, it just doesn't work like that. You need to pick it up from other people saying it. I personally have a list. Also, be careful with what you hear on TV, because sometimes people from 河北 etc. add this 儿, and it's not "authentic" Beijing dialect. I heard a TV presenter say 话题儿 (topic of conversation) once, and was told off by all of my friends. The same is true for 口音儿 (accent). I hope this is a good answer!! And sorry for writing SUCH a long answer!!!! Laurence

Hey, this is quite easy to explain! 儿 has two main meanings. The first, as you correctly stated, is "child" or "son". 儿子 - son, 女儿 - daughter. Note that when it carries this "child" meaning, the 儿 is pronounced as a separate syllable. Now, the second meaning is a "diminutive suffix", which is linguistic nonsense. It basically means that you can add it onto the ends of words (NOT ALL WORDS!!!) to make the object sound smaller and/or cute - this is common in the north of China, essentially in and around 北京 and 东北. When you add the 儿 in these situations, it usually blends in with the last syllable, and doesn't add an extra syllable. Examples: 鱼 - fish / 鱼儿 - small cute little fish 羊 - sheep / 羊儿 - small, cute and fluffy little lamb/sheep 冰棍儿 - small ice cream or a popsicle (I don't know if they say 冰棍 in Taiwan or the south of China, but to me it sounds stupid and like you have a giant ice cream). 小孩 - child / 小孩儿 - northern Chinese way to say "child" 花 - flower / 花儿 - flower 鸟 - bird / 鸟儿 - bird 蝴蝶 - butterfly / 蝴蝶儿 - butterfly

Yes, as a noun, 兒 means son or child. But in some words in spoken languages, like these three words you mentioned, it's just a suffix. '哪', '一會' and '一點' can also be used and understood even if there is no '兒'.