Productive Prefixes and Suffixes
中文里有一批高频'词缀'，加在词根前后，能批量构造新词，认识它们就能推测生词的意思。
前缀（加在前面）：
- 非- = 不是…（客观否定）：非正式、非法、非公开。注意跟'非常'（很，副词）区别，'非'单独作前缀时表示'不'。
- 反- = 相反/反对：反常（不正常）、反腐（反对腐败）、反思（回过头思考）。
- 无- = 没有：无效、无私、无限。
后缀（加在后面）：
- -性 = …的性质/程度（抽象名词）：可能性、重要性、灵活性。
- -化 = 使变成…（动词化）：现代化、简化、美化。
- -者 = …的人（施事者）：作者、学者、消费者。
- -率 = …的比例（比率名词）：成功率、出生率、效率。
看到陌生词时，先拆出词根和词缀，就能猜出大概意思。
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 这次会议是非正式的，大家可以随便聊聊。 | Zhè cì huì yì shì fēi zhèng shì de, dà jiā kě yǐ suí biàn liáo liao. | This meeting is informal; everyone can just chat casually. | 非- prefix negates 正式 (formal) → 非正式 (informal) — the minimal frame. |
| 工厂决定推进自动化，用机器代替一部分人工劳动，提高生产效率。 | Gōng chǎng jué dìng tuī jìn zì dòng huà, yòng jī qì dài tì yī bù fen rén gōng láo dòng, tí gāo shēng chǎn xiào lǜ. | The factory decided to push forward automation, using machines to replace some manual labor and raise production efficiency. | -化 suffix turns 自动 (automatic) into a verb 自动化 (to automate); -率 suffix turns 效 into 效率 (efficiency). |
| 记者采访了几位消费者，发现大家普遍反感虚假广告的可能性正在上升，专家呼吁加强监管以避免这种不良现象反复出现。 | Jì zhě cǎi fǎng le jǐ wèi xiāo fèi zhě, fā xiàn dà jiā pǔ biàn fǎn gǎn xū jiǎ guǎng gào de kě néng xìng zhèng zài shàng shēng, zhuān jiā hū yù jiā qiáng jiān guǎn yǐ bì miǎn zhè zhǒng bù liáng xiàn xiàng fǎn fù chū xiàn. | The reporter interviewed several consumers and found the possibility of widespread resentment toward false advertising is rising; experts are calling for stronger regulation to avoid this bad phenomenon from recurring. | -者 (记者, 消费者) and -性 (可能性) combined in one dense multi-affix sentence. |
What you need first
Every topic in GraphChinese names its own prerequisites, and these are the grammar points this one is built on. If a sentence here will not parse, one of them is why.
Productive Prefixes and Suffixes is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.
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