化(か)する-ification, -ization, To make something, To change, To become, Transform into

Most Recent Replies (13 in total)

• 

  Pushindawood

  -ification
  -ization
  to make something
  to change
  to become
  transform into

  Structure

  • Suffix
  • Noun + 化 + ( する )
  • Noun1 + 化 + する / した / の + Noun2

  [A suffix creating する verb that indicates an act, process of making something, or transformation]

  [In very formal writing like in titles of articles, in books or a thesis it can be seen in kanji compounds without の: プラスチック液化法及びその応用 ( Plastic Liquefaction Methods and Practical Use )]

  View on Bunpro

• 

  Paulkun

  I fail to see, when I have to add する after か and when it can be omitted.

  Is it dependent to what comes after ? Like a verb, noun etc ?

• 

  asdfpotato

  I’m looking at this sentence, and I’m really not sure why this one is 化 instead of 化する?

  20世紀には経済成長の原因の一つは自動化だと感がられている。

  The only thing that I can think of is that in this particular case, 自動化 may be a commonly accepted adverb?

  Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary

• 

  nekoyama

  原因の一つは自動化だ - one of the causes is automation

  原因の一つは自動化する - one of the causes is automating itself (nonsense, and the following だ would be ungrammatical)

• 

  Superpnut

  I have a question about a hint I’m getting in the picture below.
  
• 

  kariforuniajin

  I just wanted to comment that this grammar point has got to be one of the hardest ones to really understand (as an English native speaker).

  I know it’s bad practice to try to translate things word-for-word, but I can’t wrap my head around this grammar point.

• 

  nekoyama

  Isn’t it pretty similar to how it works in English though. E.g. we can take the noun “simple” and the suffix “-ify” (originally from a Latin word for “make”) and make a new verb “simplify” that means “make simple” or “change something so it becomes simple”. And we can also take this verb and the suffix “-ation” (for a “process”) to make a corresponding noun “simplification” that means “the process of making something simple”.

  In the same way we can take the noun 簡単 (simple) and make a new verb 簡単化 する (simplify), and the matching noun 簡単化 (simplification).

  I guess a word-for-word translation is difficult because English has a bunch of ways to do this, and they’re not exchangeable, and generally rooted in Latin or Old French and no longer recognisable as individual words, and sometimes the same suffix can have multiple roots, and sometimes people don’t agree whether two words are the same, or different meanings, or one is just misspelled (like liquefaction vs. liquificat...

• 

  kariforuniajin

  E.g. we can take the noun “simple” and the suffix “-ify” (originally from a Latin word for “make”) and make a new verb “simplify” that means “make simple” or “change something so it becomes simple”.

  Oooh, I like this explanation! Cheers!

• 

  cytsunny
• 

  BoxerDanc

  It’s in N4 but the sentences are hella complicated. Not even a single easier one. Gimme a break

• 

  BoxerDanc

  Sorry, I see it’s been ages since your question.

  Looks like they need you to input する in the passive form, which is される (is done). And combine it with another grammar point N4 Lesson 2: 6/17 始める.

• 

  semanticman

  If this is indeed true, then the upshot is that the explanation of this grammar point is very bad and should be re-written. The only example of using 化 on its own as a suffix is accompanied by this:

  However, in formal/scientific writing, the する (and の) may sometimes be dropped.

  日本では高齢化が進んでいる。
  In Japan, the population is aging progressively.

  Is there a way we can flag this discussion for the editorial team? I don’t know if it’s cool to @ just anyone.

• 

  nekoyama

  You can at the people with a bunpro logo in their icon, they usually aren’t offended by customers asking questions about their product!

  In the sentence you quoted maybe a translation along the lines of “the aging of the population is progressing” would make it easier to map the parts?

  But this grammar point tends to produce weird translations if they’re too literal. For example, the 高齢化 has a companion, the 少子化 (small-number-of-children-ification of a society) and they’re often grouped together as 少子高齢化 too. In English we’d probably have to split that up again to make sense.

  If you want more examples, another one that tends to come up in JLPT questions is 地球温暖化 (global warming). Or look at chemicals, those can be kind of easy to map to English. E.g. 酸素 is oxygen and 酸化 is oxidation. So something like carbon dioxide becomes 二酸化炭素 (~twice oxidized carbon), etc. Maybe a bit above N4 now that I think about it.

• 

  semanticman

  Yeah I guess I’ll just @Asher because I’m familiar with him from the book club threads, I’m just not sure if this is his area of responsibility.