Making "-ize" and "-ify" verbs with "hua"

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.

Noun / Adj. + 化

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xiàndàihuàmodernize
• 中国化Zhōngguóhuàsinicize, Chinese-ify
• 美国化MěiguóhuàAmericanize
• KFC 的 中国 本土化 经营 做 得 非常 成功。KFC de Zhōngguó běntǔhuà jīngyíng zuò dé fēicháng chénggōng.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。Dèng Xiǎopíng tíchūle Sì Gè Xiàndàihuà: Gōngyè xiàndàihuà, nóngyè xiàndàihuà, guófáng xiàndàihuà, kēxué jìshù xiàndàihuà.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

• 卓越汉语－公司实战篇 (pp. 68) 卓越汉语－公司实战篇 →buy

• Contemporary Chinese 4 (当代中文4) (pp. 17) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy

• Short-term Spoken Chinese: Intermediate (汉语口语速成中级篇) (pp. 90) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy

HSK5