The suffix 化
(huà) can be added to the end of many Chinese words to make them
into verbs, the equivalent of "-ize" or "-ify" in English.
Structure
You can take some Chinese nouns and adjectives and add a 化 to the end of them to make
"-ize" or "-ify" them. Basically, 化 takes the noun or adjective and
makes it into a verb. One example of how we do that in English is
to take the word "modern" and turn it into "modernize." Most of the
time, the Chinese words that 化 is added to are two-character
words.
Examples
The following is a short list of examples 化 words and sentences.
Note that while the suffix 化 most often corresponds to "-ize" or
"-ify" in English, these are not the only options in
English. (Ah, you gotta love the endless variety of the English
language!)
With a Noun
- 现代化modernize
- 中国化sinicize,
Chinese-ify
- 美国化Americanize
- KFC 的 中国 本土化 经营 做 得 非常 成功。KFC's
Chinese localization has been implemented very
successfully.
- 邓小平 提出了 四 个
现代化：工业现代化、农业现代化、国防现代化、科学技术现代化。Deng
Xiaoping set forth the Four Modernizations: industrial
modernization, agricultural modernization,
national defense modernization, and scientific technology
modernization.
- 现在 我们 公司 的工作 流程 和 人事 管理 已经 初步 制度化 了。These days our company's workflows and HR management have
already started to be systematized.
With an Adjective
- 美化beautification
- 绿化"greenify"
- 软化soften
- 你 应该 让 黄油 软化，然后 跟 面包 一起 吃。You
should allow the butter to soften, then eat it with
bread.
- 我们 保护 环境 是 为了 美化 我们 的 城市。We
protect the environment in order to beautify our
city.
- 每年 我们 的 绿化 面积 都 在 扩大。Every year
our green[ified] area is expanding.
Sources and further
reading
Books
Category:B2 grammar points