Word formation словообразование

In English there are many word beginnings (prefixes) and word endings (suffixes) that can be added to a word to change its meaning or its word class. The most common ones are shown here, with examples of how they are used in the process of word formation. Many more are listed in the dictionary.

Verb formation (образование глаголов)

The endings -izeand-ifycan be added to many nouns and adjectives to form verbs, like this:

Прилаг-е/ cущ. +-ize, -ify = глагол

ПРИЛАГАТЕЛЬНОЕ	-ize	ГЛАГОЛ
American legal modern popular	ize	Americanize legalize modernize popularize

Ex.They want to make the factorymore modern. They wantto modernize the factory.

СУЩЕСТВИТЕЛЬНОЕ/ ПРИЛАГАТЕЛЬНОЕ	-fy	ГЛАГОЛ
beauty liquid pure simple	-fy	beautify liquefy purify simplify

These tablets make the water pure. Theypurify the water.

Adverb formation (образование наречий)

The ending -lycan be added to most adjectives to form adverbs, like this:

Прилаг-е +-ly = наречие

ПРИЛАГАТЕЛЬНОЕ	-ly		НАРЕЧИЕ
easy main quick stupid		-ly	easily mainly quickly stupidly

His behaviour was stupid. He behavedstupidly.

Noun formation (образование существительных)

The endings -er,-ment, -ationcan be added to many verbs to form nouns.

глагол+-er,-ment, –ation = существительное

ГЛАГОЛ	-er, ment, ation		СУЩЕСТВИТЕЛЬНОЕ
drive fasten open teach		-er	driver fastener opener teacher
develop pay retire		ment	development payment retirement
admire associate examine organize		-ation	admiration association examination organization

John drives a bus. He is a bus driver.

Children develop very quickly. Their development is very quick.

The doctor examined me carefully. He gave me a careful examination.

The endings -ity and -ness can be added to many adjectives to form nouns, like this:

Прилагательное + -ity, -ness = cуществительное

ПРИЛАГАТЕЛЬНОЕ	-ity,-ness	СУЩЕСТВИТЕЛЬНОЕ
cruel odd pure stupid	-(i)ty -ty	cruelty oddity purity stupidity
dark deaf happy kind	ness	darkness deafness happiness kindness

Don’t be so cruel.

I hate cruelty.

It was very dark. Thedarknessmade it impossible to see.

Adjective formation (образование прилагательных)

The endings -y, -ic, -ical, -ful, -lesscan be added to many nouns to form adjectives.

Cуществительное + -y, -ic, -ical, -ful, -less = прилагательное

This book contains exercises on grammar. It contains grammatical exercises.

His broken leg caused him a lot of pain. It was very painful.

The operation didn't cause her any pain. It was painless.

СУЩЕСТВИТЕЛЬНОЕ	-y, -ic, -ical, -ful, -less		ПРИЛАГАТЕЛЬНОЕ
bush dirt hair smell		-y	bushy dirty hairy smelly
atom biology grammar poetry		-ic, -ical	atomic biological grammatical poetic
pain hope care		-ful		painful hopeful careful
pain hope care		-less		painless hopeless careless

The ending -ablecan be added to many verbs to form adjectives.

Глагол + -able = прилагательное

ГЛАГОЛ	-able	ПРИЛАГАТЕЛЬНОЕ
wash love debate break	-able	w You can wash this coat. It's washable. ashable lovable debatable breakable