Learn some common suffixes in Chinese
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are some suffixes in Chinese? |
| Dehua: And why are they useful to know? |
| Michael: At ChineseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine this scenario: Sasha Lee studies for her exam together with her classmate, Chenxin Chen. She sees an unknown word, and asks, |
| "What does 'dòngwù xué' mean?" |
| 李 萨莎: 「动物学」是什么意思？ (“Dòngwù xué” shì shénme yìsi?) |
| Dialogue |
| 李 萨莎: 「动物学」是什么意思？ (“Dòngwù xué” shì shénme yìsi?) |
| 陈 晨欣: 意思是zoology。 (Yìsi shì “zoology”.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| 李 萨莎: 「动物学」是什么意思？ (“Dòngwù xué” shì shénme yìsi?) |
| Michael: "What does 'dòngwù xué' mean?" |
| 陈 晨欣: 意思是zoology。 (Yìsi shì “zoology”.) |
| Michael: "It means 'zoology.' " |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: A suffix is a character added to the end of a stem or root word, which results in the formation of a new word. Just like there are numerous suffixes in English like “-ness”, “-less”, “-ly ”, etc., there are a handful of suffixes in Chinese as well. So learning about suffixes will not only expand your vocabulary, but will also let you grasp or guess the words you are not familiar with. In Chinese, a suffix is called |
| Dehua: 后缀 (hòuzhuì) |
| Michael: Let's start with the suffix we see in this lesson's dialogue: |
| Dehua: 动物学 (dòngwù xué) |
| Michael: "zoology." When we break down this term, we can see that it starts with the noun |
| Dehua: 动物 (dòngwù), |
| Michael: "animal," followed by the suffix |
| Dehua: 学 (xué), |
| Michael: by itself, this character means "study," but when used as a suffix as in this case, it implies "the study of." So, the study of animals is zoology: |
| Dehua: 动物学 (dòngwù xué) [SLOW] 动物学 (dòngwù xué) |
| Michael: This suffix is commonly used for fields of study. Another example is |
| Dehua: 生物学 (shēngwù xué), |
| Michael: "Biology." This term starts with the noun |
| Dehua: 生物 (shēngwù) |
| Michael: literally "living creatures," followed by the "study" suffix, |
| Dehua: 学 (xué); |
| Michael: so, here, we have the study of living things, which is "biology." |
| Dehua: 生物学 (shēngwù xué) [SLOW] 生物学 (shēngwù xué) |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sentences we’ve heard in this lesson. I’ll say the sentence in English, and then I want you to try and reply in Chinese. Dehua will then model the correct answer—listen to her carefully and repeat, with emphasis on your pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "What does 'dòngwù xué' mean?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 「动物学」是什么意思？ (“Dòngwù xué” shì shénme yìsi?) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 「动物学」是什么意思？ (“Dòngwù xué” shì shénme yìsi?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 「动物学」是什么意思？ (“Dòngwù xué” shì shénme yìsi?) |
| Michael: Now for our next sentence. Do you remember how to say "It means 'zoology?'" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 意思是zoology。 (Yìsi shì “zoology”.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 意思是zoology。 (Yìsi shì “zoology”.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 意思是zoology。 (Yìsi shì “zoology”.) |
| Cultural Expansion |
| Michael: Now, let’s talk about another common Chinese suffix, |
| Dehua: 性 (xìng). |
| Michael: By itself, this character means “nature,” “quality,” and “sex.” But, when used as a suffix, it turns an adjective into a noun, similar to “-ness” or “-ity” in English. For example, let's take the adjective “flexible,” |
| Dehua: 灵活 (línghuó) |
| Michael: and add the suffix, |
| Dehua: 性 (xìng), |
| Michael: then it becomes “flexibility,” |
| Dehua: 灵活性 (línghuó xìng) [SLOW] 灵活性 (línghuó xìng) |
| Michael: And can you guess what the word “possibility” is? It’d be “possible,” plus this suffix. |
| Dehua: 可能 (kěnéng) “possible,” plus the 性 (xìng) suffix, becomes 可能性 (kěnéng xìng) |
| Michael: “Possibility” |
| Dehua: 可能性 (kěnéng xìng) [SLOW] 可能性 (kěnéng xìng) |
| Michael: Let’s move on to another common Chinese suffix, which is |
| Dehua: 化 (huà) |
| Michael: When placed after a noun or adjective, the word becomes a causative verb, similar to “-ize” or “-ify” in English. For instance, “modernize,” |
| Dehua: 现代化 (xiàndài huà), |
| Michael: is constructed simply by adding the suffix behind “modern.” |
| Dehua: Right. 现代 (xiàndài) “modern,” plus the 化 (huà) suffix, becomes 现代化 (xiàndài huà), “modernize.” |
| Michael: Another example with the adjective “pretty,” |
| Dehua: 美 (měi), plus the 化 (huà) suffix, becomes 美化 (měi huà) |
| Michael: which means “to make something (more) beautiful,” “to beautify.” |
| Dehua: 美化 (měi huà) [SLOW] 美化 (měi huà) |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Dehua: 再见！ (zàijiàn!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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