Prefix and suffix are two morphological marks of nouns in Chinese language. Therefore, students who want to study Mandarin Chinese must learn them for better understanding.
The first one we learn when we study Chinese is the prefix. In the following parts, some prefixes frequently-used in Chinese will be exampled and explained.
The first one is “阿” that often used to form the nouns that are related to people such as “阿姨(ā yí)”, “阿爹(ā diē)” and “阿爸(ā bà)”. It is also can be positioned before a name. for example, if there is somebody named “王新(wánɡ xīn)”, we can call him “阿新(ā xīn). But it is an informal calling to show intimacy to someone, mostly used to call the same or younger generation. Nouns with prefix “阿” are frequently appeared in South China dialects. Students learn Chinese in China should know that “阿姨(ā yí)” has been a common word in Mandarin.
The next prefix is “老” used with “老婆(lǎo po)”, “老兄(lǎo xiōnɡ)”, “老外(lǎo wài)”, “老虎(láo hǔ)”, “老大(lǎo dà)”. Among them, the first “老” is informal call, showing casual relationship. The second one used to call the same ore elder generation to show Intimacy. “老外” is used to call foreign adult but not call them directly to the foreigners. The one in “老虎” shows feeling of hate and fear. The last one is to express ranking. Students who learn Mandarin should know that the prefix “老” is different from the one in “老人” and “老朋友”.
The third one is “小” in “小商品(xiǎo shānɡ pǐn)”, “小辈(xiǎo bèi)”, “小弟(xiǎo dì)”, “小姐(xiáo jiě)”. The first one indicates the small shape and the second express the modest calling that lowers the qualification. The one in “小姐” attaches the meaning of respect. After understanding these, it will be easier to learn Chinesefor overseas students.
Another one we must learn when we start to learn Mandarin Chinese is the suffix, which will be helpful to understand the meaning of Chinese characters.
The first one commonly used suffix is “子”. Foreign students who want to study in China should understand that the original meaning of “子” is “child” and it doesn’t carry the meaning of small and contempt, just to substantive the words..
The one in “桌子(zhuō zi) and “椅子(yǐ zi) can’t be removed but can be used with some relative words like “桌椅板凳”. “刷子(shuā zi)” is a word combine with “子” and a verb while “胖子(pànɡ zi)” is composed of “子” and an adjective.
If you attend to the one-on-one Chinese learning programs, the teacher will tell you to pay attention to that the suffix “子” is always unstressed. However, the one in some nouns is just a morpheme, but not suffix such as “原子” and “分子”. When the one in “妻子” is stressed, it means wife and children. If unstressed, only means wife. The suffix “子” is conventional in Chinese, so it can’t be created arbitrarily.
The suffix “儿” is applied to create words when combined with some nouns, verbs, adjectives and numbers, etc. But it doesn’t change the meaning. “儿” is often spoken in Peking dialect. Students can learn Chinese online free if you are interested. For the suffix “头”, it is the same function to combine some nouns, verbs, and adjectives to form new words, remaining the meaning such as “木头(mù tou)”, “看头(kàn tóu)”, and “甜头(tián tou)”.
“者” is another important suffix in Chinese Characters. It also positioned with some nouns, verbs and adjectives to form new words. For examples, “读者(dú zhě)”, “领导者(línɡ dǎo zhě)”, “强者(qiánɡ zhě)”, 前者(qián zhě)”. But we should notice that “者” is a suffix that has not completely changed. It is a bound morpheme which means the one who has this nature or action. For all these suffixes, students can setChinese learning programs to learn Chinese regularly.
Students should practice more prefixes and suffixes discusses above because they are frequently appeared in our daily talk.