Chinese Grammar: Lesson: Chinese suffix -化 and -性

Suffix General Rules

A Chinese suffix is called 后缀, and you put it right after a word like you'll do in English. Unlike prefixes, there are quite a lot of suffixes in Chinese. It's quite similar to the basic rules and characteristics of the prefix. However, adding a suffix after an adjective or a noun can change its word type. Amazing right? Let's look at two particular suffixes -化 and 性.

Rules for the Suffix -化

If you add -化 after an adjective or a noun, you can change the word to a verb. So you can understand it as "-ize or -ify" in English, and it exactly means the same!

Unlike Chinese prefixes, which often form a disyllabic word, the suffix is free to create either a disyllabic word or a polysyllabic word.

Structure

Noun/Adjective + 化

Examples

夸张 = exaggerate - 夸张 化 = exaggerated
规范 = standard - 规范化 = standardize
现代 = modern - 现代化 = modernize
简单 = simple - 简单化 = simplified
中国 = China - 中国化 = sinicize

But this one:

美 = beautiful - 美化 = beautification

Suffix -性

性 is also a common suffix in Chinese. The word 性 means nature, quality, and sex. When used as a suffix, 性 can form an adjective from a verb and a noun from an adjective.

You can understand it as "-ness or -ity" in English to express the essence and the property of something.

Structure

Word + 性

Examples

真实 = truth - 真实性 = authenticity 可能 = possible - 可能性 = possibility 实用 = useful - 实用 性 = usability 硬 = hard - 硬性 = hardness 创造 = create - 创造性 = creativeness 平衡 = balance - 平衡 性 = balancedness

Remember what we've learned about the adverb 地? 地 can also be used as the suffix “-ly” like in 快乐 地, happily or 疯狂 地, crazily.