<h1>Derivational suffixes which create nouns</h1><h2>Sufijos derivacionales que forman sustantivos</h2>

Nouns created by suffixes in English.

Sustantivos creados por sufijos en inglés.

According to the following list of suffixes, you will perceive how a word can change of grammatical class or sub-class. For example in the verb “to arrive” by the addition of the suffix “-al” it is converted into the noun “arrival”.

If someone asked us to convert the verb “to insist” into a noun we should use the suffix     “-ence”in order to obtain the noun “insistence”.

As we have already stated in the associated article “Suffixes role in English”, a suffix may change a word to a sub-class of the same word class.

For example, applying the suffix –age to the word bag (which is count noun as we can say if there are two, three or more bags as bag is a countable noun) we create the non-count noun baggage (it is an uncountable noun as we cannot say if there is one baggage or there some baggage).

In case of doubt, remember that a non-count noun never has plural form; we just don’t say two milks, two snows, two baggages…

This will be a required exercise for advanced levels, either on an official language examination as the “Advanced of English”, or using the less common suffixes on the “Proficiency”.

 

A partir de la siguiente lista de sufijos te darás cuenta de cómo se puede cambiar de clase o subclase una palabra. Por ejemplo el verbo”to arrive” (llegar) al añadirle el sufijo “–al” se convierte en arrival (llegada) un sustantivo.

Si nos pidieran convertir el verbo “to insist” en un sustantivo deberíamos utilizar el sufijo “-ence” para obtener” insistence”.

También como ya indicamos en el artículo relacionado “Suffixes role in english”, el sufijo puede provocar un cambio de subclase.

 Un ejemplo seria aplicar el sufijo –age a la palabra bag (bolsa) que es un sustantivo contable (podemos decir si hay una, dos o más bosas; se puede contar) resultando la palabra baggage (equipaje) que es un sustantivo incontable (no podemos decir si hay uno o más equipajes; no se puede contar).

 Ante la duda de si una palabra es contable o incontable recordemos que las no contables no tienen plural, no decimos dos leches, dos nieves, dos equipajes…

Este será un tipo de ejercicio que se pide para niveles avanzados, bien sea en un examen oficial como el “Advanced of English “y con sufijos menos comunes para el “Proficiency”.

 

           

Suffix	meanings	examples
-age	refer to the action or process	wastage, anchorage
-al	action of	arrival, approval
-ant/-ent	person/thing performing the action	student, deodorant
-ance/-ence	refer to an action	insistence, violence
-arium/-orium	thing or place relating to	planetarium, aquarium
-ary/-ery/-ory	relating or connected to	monetary, watery
-dom	state or condition	boredom, freedom
-ee	person/thing subject of the origin verb	interviewee, employee
-ar/-er/-or	one that performs	singer, registrar
-ie/-y	little one                      someone who is or belongs	kiddie                          townie
-hood	denoting condition, character	motherhood, childhood
-ism	denotes action or practice state or condition principles or doctrines	criticism optimism, pessimism Marxism, pacifism
-ist	person who is concerned with	impressionist, machinist
-ity/-ty	state or condition	similarity, casualty
let/-ette	Diminutive jewellery worn on that part of the body	kitchenette, booklet bracelet, wristlet
-ment	action or result	management, investment
-ness	state, condition, quality, degree	abruptness, crispness
-ship	state, position or skills	membership, citizenship
-sion/-tion/-xion	state, condition, action, process or result	confusion, composition             complexion
-ation	action, state, condition or quality of	acclamation, subrogation

 

 

See related article: Suffixes role in English.

Ver artículo relacionado: El papel de los sufijos en inglés.