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

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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/Adjective + 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modernize
  • 中国sinicize, Chinese-ify
  • 美国Americanize
  • KFC 的 中国 本土 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:工业现代、农业现代、国防现代、科学技术现代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 了。These days our company's workflows and HR management have already started to be systematized.

With an Adjective

  • beautification
  • 绿"greenify"
  • soften
  • 你 应该 让 黄油 软,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 我们 的 城市。We protect the environment in order to beautify our city.
  • 每年 我们 的 绿 面积 都 在 扩大。Every year our green[ified] area is expanding.

Sources and further reading

Books

HSK5