Pure emphasis use of 那個?

Question

What is the exact function of "那個" here?

A: 我是電信局的。
B: 喔，您是不是那個童先生派的？

A: I'm from the Telephone Company.
B: Oh, did (that) Mr. Tong send you?

I do not find such usage listed on

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_grammar
• https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/那個

My suspicion is that it is an optional "drum roll": "Get your ears ready for an important word."

Is it a demonstrative?

But the sentence would be just a good without 那個， just a little more formal, though.

And the two speakers are standing on a hill, far away from the telephone company office where any this Mr. Tong or that Mr. Tong may be.

And it's not the "give me more time to think" use of 那個, or is it? But I'm certain the speaker was not grasping for words at the time... (because the speaker was me!)

I do note this kind of usage only occurs before nouns, not verbs, etc.

Answer 1

In Chinese, 这 (zhe4, zhei4) (这个 这些) and 那 (na4, nei4) (那个 那些) are used very often. They are similar to the English demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives (this, that, these, those). Sometimes they are just used with minimal meanings but only to indicate or emphasize a thing, similar to the definitive article (the).

The difference between 这 and 那 is in the distance or scope in a physical or nonphysical measurement. For example,

(1) A: 电信局童主任派我来检查设备。B: 这位童主任办事真讲效率。我昨天刚刚给他打过电话。（童主任 is already in the dialogue scope mentioned by A.)

(2) A: 电信局派我来检查设备。B: 是那位童主任派你来的吗？他办事真讲效率。我昨天刚刚给他打过电话。（童主任 is not in the dialogue scope yet. It is first mentioned by B.)

Answer 2

那個 (that) before a noun indicates "there's a distance between you and the object"

您是不是童先生派的? (implies you are familiar with Mr. Tong)

您是不是那個童先生派的? (implies you are not familiar with Mr. Tong)

If you know Mr. Tong, you wouldn't say "That Mr. Tong"

Another example:

你聽過2025計劃嗎？ (Have you heard of Project 2025?)

你聽過那個2025計劃嗎？(Have you heard of that Project 2025?) - you are distancing yourself from Project 2025. Either you don't know much about it or you want to emphasize you are not involved in it. Similarly, saying "That Mr, Tong" puts a distance between you and him. Either you don't know him that much or you are not involved in his activate (if Mr. Tong turned out to be a con man, don't blame me for not warning you)

Answer 3

It's just a that. If there was no 个， we would have 那童先生， that Mr Tong.

那個: that, that one, the one, that man, the man
那個童先生派的
that Tong Mr send de
the one Mr Tong sent?

A: 我是電信局的。
A: I am from the Telecommunications Bureau.
B: 喔，您是不是那個童先生派的（人）（吗）？
B: Oh, are you the man who Mr Tong was going to send?

那个句子不合语法。
That sentence is not grammatical.

Answer 4

• A: 我是電信局的。

• B: 喔，您是不是那個童先生派的？

"那個" usually means "that", but, when the object after "那個" is a person, you probably can treat it as a meaningless mantra(口頭禪). Elimination of the word will not confuse the meaning.

• 喔，您是不是(--)童先生派的？- Mr. Tóng must be a unique person known by both A and B, and there is no ambiguity about his identity.

If there is more than one Mr. Tóng in the Telecomm Bureau, we can say,

• 喔，您是不是財務部的那個童先生派的？- Oh, are you sent by that Mr.Tóng, who is with the Finance Dept.?

However, the above can be simplified as,

• 喔，您是不是財務部的童先生派的？- Oh, are you sent by Mr. Tóng of the Finance Dept?