Video narration
Chemical names can feel like random codes: one unfamiliar word, and the whole structure seems lost. Think of them like an ordered house address: each detail identifies one exact place. Carbon names work the same way. First, find the longest suitable carbon chain. This parent chain gives the main name; number it so the important feature gets the lowest position. A group hanging from it is a substituent, or branch. Give it a prefix name and its position number. Then choose the suffix, the ending that identifies the main bond type or functional group. For example, a three-carbon chain with a methyl branch on carbon two is named 2-methylpropane. Now the name is no longer a word to memorize. It is a structure map: chain, position, branch, and ending. Don't memorize the whole name: find the parent chain, number it, add the branches, and finish with the correct suffix.