Using 那 particle similar to how 所以 is used when asking series of questions?

Question

I watch a lot of Mandarin Corner on YouTube and the style of her videos are to basically interview subjects in Mandarin dialect.

I notice when she goes from questions to question, she will use 那 and then ask questions.

In English would be like: How old are you? I'm 21. So (那), how many years did you live in China?

The definition seems to be "that, those then, which etc" but I don't see "so .."

Can anyone explain this usage?

Answer 1

那 is a colloquial expression, here means "in that case" (or, then, if so, so). It follows along the semantics of someone's response with a follow-up question.

• How old are you?

• I am 21.

• In that case (i.e. been 21 years old), how many years did you live in China (in that 21 years)?

Example:

• 晚上一起去看電影吧?

• 今天想早點休息, 不去了.

• 那我也不去了. (那 = 假如你不去 = in that case = if so = so = then)