Did you know that some English words can change from a noun to a verb, or a verb to an adjective? All you need to do is add a suffix. Understanding suffixes in English helps you predict a word’s definition and make your meaning clear in both speech and writing.
Learn how to use English suffixes in school, work, and casual conversation. Once you add these words to your vocabulary list, you’ll soon be speaking like a native English speaker!
Table of Contents
What are English suffixes?
English suffixes are word parts that you add to smaller English words to create longer, more specific words. Suffixes are similar to English prefixes because they can change the meaning of a word. However, prefixes come at the beginning of words, while suffixes appear at the end of words.
Common words with suffixes include:
- wilderness: wilder (base) + ness (suffix)
- understandable: understand (base) + able (suffix)
- postage: post (base) + age (suffix)
- thoughtless: thought (base) + less (suffix)
When you learn the most common English suffixes, you’ll be able to predict the meanings of many different words. For example, if you know that the suffix -able means “able to,” you know that the word understandable means “able to understand,” believable means “able to be believed,” and lovable means “able to be loved.” That’s three vocabulary words in one lesson!
Most suffixes come from Greek and Latin, which are root languages of Romance languages like French, Spanish, and Italian. If you already speak a Romance language, English suffixes will be much easier to learn.
Types of English suffixes
Adding a suffix can change a base word’s part of speech in English, which makes it easier for you to use in writing and speech because you can clarify meaning and use a variety of sentence patterns. Discover the different types of English suffixes to use when speaking and writing in English.
Noun suffixes in English
Did you know that adding suffixes to verbs and adjectives can create new English nouns? Read through these common noun suffixes for words that you’re likely to see in your everyday life.
| English Suffix | Meaning | Example Words |
| -age | action | advantage (a better position) |
| -al | a process | arrival (act of arriving) |
| -ance, -ence | the state of being something | independence (state of being independent) |
| -ar | person who does an action | liar (person who lies) |
| -dom | the state of being | boredom (act of being bored) |
| -ee | person receiving an action | trainee (person being trained) |
| -er, -or | person who does an action | farmer (person who works on a farm) |
| -hood | the state of being something | childhood (state of being a child) |
| -ism | the act of doing something | tourism (act of traveling) |
| -ist | person who does an action | artist (person who creates art) |
| -ion, -tion | the act of doing something | education (the act of educating) |
| -ment | the act of doing something | agreement (the act of agreeing) |
| -ness | the state of being | happiness (the state of being happy) |
| -ship | the state of being | citizenship (the state of being a citizen) |
| -ty, -ity | the state of being | equality (the state of being equal) |
Plural noun suffixes
You can also add English suffixes to singular nouns to make them plural! These suffixes are helpful when showing that you have more than one person, place, thing, or idea in a sentence.
| English Suffix | When To Add | Example Words |
| -s, -es | base words ending in a consonant | cats, buses |
| -ies | base words ending in “y” | babies, parties |
| -ves | base words ending in “f” | knives, wives |
Adjective suffixes in English
Some common adjectives in English are really just nouns with English suffixes. Changing these words lets you describe something relating to, having the ability of, or having the quality of another noun.
| English Suffix | Meaning | Example Words |
| -able | able to, worthy of | comfortable (able to provide comfort) |
| -al | relating to | musical (relating to music) |
| -ar | relating to | lunar (relating to the moon) |
| -en | made of | wooden (made of wood) |
| -ful | full of | beautiful (full of beauty) |
| -ic | having the quality of | heroic (having the quality of a hero) |
| -ish | similar to | childish (similar to a child) |
| -ive | the quality of | creative (having the quality of creating something) |
| -less | without | careless (without care) |
| -ly | having the quality of | friendly (having the quality of a friend) |
| -ous, -ious | the quality of | famous (having the quality of fame) |
| -ible | able to | edible (able to be eaten) |
| -y | the quality of | sorry (having the quality of sorrow) |
Verb suffixes in English
You can even use suffixes to create new verbs in English! These action words add suffixes to adjectives and nouns to create very specific verbs for your writing.
| English Suffix | Meaning | Example Words |
| -ate | to act | communicate (to share information) |
| -en | to make | sharpen (to make sharp) |
| -ify, fy | to become | magnify (to become larger) |
| -ize, ise | to make | memorize (to make into memory) |
Verb conjugation suffixes
Another type of English suffix involves changing a verb’s tense. You may see these suffixes added to the ends of regular verbs to show that an action happened during a certain time period. (Irregular verbs change their vowels and spelling, rather than adding suffixes.)
| English Suffix | Meaning | Example Words |
| -ed | happened in the past | walked, fixed |
| -ing | an ongoing action | walking, fixing |
| -s, -es | happening now | walks, fixes |
Adverb suffixes in English
Finally, you’ll see many common suffixes at the end of English adverbs. These words describe how an action happened or modify an adjective to add more detail to a sentence.
| English Suffix | Meaning | Example Words |
| -ly | in a certain way | quickly (in a quick way) |
| -ward, wards | in a direction | forward (moving ahead) |
| -wise | in a direction | clockwise (in the direction of a clock) |
English suffix rules
You can add some suffixes just by attaching them to the ends of words. But for some words, you’ll need to follow basic English grammar rules and spelling guidelines to make sure you’re using them properly.
- The base word ends in a consonant and “y”: Change it to an “i” when you add the suffix.
- For example: happy → happiness
- The base word ends in a consonant and “y” and you’re adding a suffix that starts with “i”: Keep the “y”.
- For example: marry → marrying
- The base word ends in a silent “e”: Drop the “e”.
- For example: love → lovable
- The base word ends in a silent “e” and you’re adding an -ly suffix: Don’t drop the “e”.
- For example: polite → politely
- The base word ends in a “ee”: Keep the “ee”.
- For example: see → seeing
- The base word has a short vowel and ends in a consonant: Double the consonant
- For example: spin → spinning
- The base word has a short vowel and ends in a “w”, “x”, or “y”: Don’t double the consonant.
- For example: bow → bowed
Finding meaning in English suffixes
Suffixes in English also help you understand antonyms, which are opposite word pairs. Changing the suffix of a word can result in giving it the opposite meaning. For example, if you change the suffixes -ful (full of) and -less (without), you get antonyms.
| Base Word | ‘-ful’ | ‘-less’ |
| thought | thoughtful | thoughtless |
| care | careful | careless |
| help | helpful | helpless |
Key takeaways for English suffixes
As you continue to learn English, you’ll find that many suffixes (and prefixes) become easier to identify as parts of the vocabulary words you pick up every day.
- English suffixes are word parts added to base words to change meaning and include details.
- The main types of English suffixes are noun suffixes, adjective suffixes, verb suffixes, and adverb suffixes.
- Suffixes can also change the plurality of a noun and the tense of a verb.
- In order to use suffixes in English, you’ll need to follow spelling rules depending on the base word you’re using.
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