这 / 那【zhè / nà】

这 points at what is near the speaker, 那 at what is further away. On their own they work as the subject of a sentence.

Before a noun, a measure word is required

这 and 那 need a measure word before the noun: the same one the noun takes when it is counted.

• × 这书很有意思 → 这本书很有意思

个 goes with many nouns, but not all of them. A noun with its own measure word keeps it: 这杯茶, 那张照片. A number goes between 这 or 那 and the measure word.

Plurals

zhè xiē这些 and nà xiē那些 cover "these" and "those", and they take no measure word.

Usage notes

These go beyond pointing at things.

zhèi and nèi

Before a measure word, 这 and 那 are often pronounced zhèi and nèi, especially in northern speech. The characters stay the same, and 这个 read zhèige is not a different word.

那 for "in that case"

At the start of a sentence, 那 stops pointing at anything and links to what was just said.