ADJECTIVE Formation

Introduction
Adjectives give us more information about people, places, animals and things. Some
adjectives can be formed from nouns, verbs and even other adjectives by adding
a prefix or a suffix.

Learn about adjective formation with Lingolia’s online lesson. In the exercises, you can
practise forming adjectives from nouns and verbs.

Construction
We can use suffixes to change nouns and verbs into adjectives, or to change the
meaning of an adjective. Some suffixes have a general meaning whilst others simply
transform words into adjectives.

 The suffix -less usually means without something whilst the suffix -ful usually
means to have something.

Example:
(with hope) hopeful ← hope → hopeless (without hope)
 Not all words can be made into adjectives pairs like this. It’s best to check your
dictionary.

Example:
homeless (but not: homefull)
beautiful (but not: beautyless)
 The suffix -ish changes nouns and adjectives into adjectives that mean like
something.

Example:
Don’t be childish. (like a child)
The jacket is a bluish colour. (like blue)
 For materials we can add -en to nouns to create adjectives that mean made of.
 Example:
A wooden chair.
A woolen jumper.
 When added to a verb, -able creates adjectives that express ability.

Example:
Is the water drinkable?

Exceptions when adding a suffix

We don’t normally add or take away letters, we simply add the suffix to the end of the
word. However, there are some exceptions:

 We double the final consonant in words that have a short stressed vowel before
the final consonant.

Example:
sun → sunny
 A -y at the end of a word changes to to -i.

Example:
bounty → bountiful
 An -e at the end of a word is dropped when the suffix begins with a vowel, but -
ee, -oe, -ye remain unchanged.

Example:
fortune → fortunate
agree → agreeable
 An -l is dropped before adding the suffix -ful to words that end in –ll.

Example:
skill → skilful

There are many more suffixes that we can use to create adjectives. The tables below
provide an overview of adjective formation using verbs and nouns. Unfortunately, there
are no rules to follow but we can always use a dictionary.
Table: Adjectives from Nouns
This table shows a list suffixes or adjective endings that can be added to nouns to form
adjectives.

suffix noun adjective example

-able comfort comfortable This chair is so comfortable.
-al brute brutal He lifted the car off the ground with brutal strength.
-ate passion passionate Ms Smith is a passionate teacher.
-en gold golden She wears a golden bracelet.
-ful beauty beautiful Look at those beautiful flowers.
-ible response responsible Angela is very responsible.
-ic history historic This town has many historic sites.
-ical alphabet alphabetical The names are in alphabetical order.
-ish child childish Don’t be so childish.
-less home homeless If I don’t find a new flat soon, I’ll be homeless.
-ly day daily Anna goes for a daily run.
-some trouble troublesome She is experiencing a troublesome pregnancy.
-ous fame famous Who is the most famous person in the world?
-y wind windy A windy day.

Table: Adjectives from Verbs

This table shows a list suffixes or adjective endings that can be added to verbs to form
adjectives.

suffix verb adjective example

-able read readable The teacher’s handwriting was not very readable.
-ative inform informative The lecture was very informative.
-ed annoy annoyed an annoyed glance
-ing confusing confusing The question is confusing.
-tive produce productive Today has been very productive.

-ing or -ed?
Many adjectives for feelings can end in either -ing and -ed.

 We use adjectives that end in -ing to describe the effect of a noun. In the case,
the -ing adjective can also be rewritten as a verb.

Example:
Erica’s job is boring.
The job bores Erica.
Michael thinks grammar is confusing.
Grammar confuses Michael
My mother is so embarrassing.
My mother embarrasses me.
 We use adjectives that end in -ed to describe how a person feels. In this case,
the verb be an be replaced by a linking verb (look, seem, feel etc.).

Example:
Erica is bored with her job.
Erica seems bored with her job.
Michael is confused by grammar.
He looks confused by grammar.
I was embarrassed about the hole in my trousers.
I feel embarrassed about the hole.

See participles and confusing words for more information and exercises.

Country Adjectives
Adjectives that describe nationality are always written with capital letters.

 We usually form country adjectives by adding -n to the end of the word.

Example:
America → American
 But we can also use -ese, -i, -ian and -ish to build country adjectives.
 Example:
Japan → Japanese

The table below provides an overview of country adjectives.

suffix country adjective example

China Chinese

-ese Portugal Portuguese In China, we met a lot of Chinese people.

Suda Sudanese
Pakastan Pakastani

-i Yemen Yemeni Pakastani cuisine is often served with rice or bread.

Qatar Qatari
Canada Canadian

-ian Italy Italian Canadian people are famous for being very polite.

Palestine Palastinian
Great Britain British

-ish Spain Spanish British weather is not the best.

Turkey Turkish
Austria Austrian

-n Jamaica Jamaican Jamaican music is famous all of the world.

Russia Russian
 Some countries have irregular forms.

Example:
Germany → German
France → French
Greece → Greek
Switzerland → Swiss
Ireland → Irish
For a detailed list of countries, languages and adjectives see: List of Countries and
Nationalities

Opposite Adjectives
dis-, in- and un-

Most adjectives in English have an opposite adjective: big/small, hot/cold, tall/short,

good/bad etc. However, we can also use prefixes to form the opposites of many
adjectives. The most common prefixes for forming opposite adjectives are un-, dis-
, and in-. Some examples are listed in the table below.

prefix adjective opposite adjective example

lucky unlucky Jerry is a very unlucky person.
un-
comfortable uncomfortable This chair is uncomfortable.
honest dishonest It’s dishonest to lie about something.
dis-
respectful disrespectful Janice was disrespectful to the teacher.
correct incorrect The answer is incorrect.
in-
humane inhumane Torture is inhumane.

il-, im- and ir-

The prefixes il-, im- and ir- are only used before particular letters. il- comes before
words that start with an -l, im-comes before words that start with an -m or a -p and ir-
comes before words that start with an -r.

prefix adjective opposite adjective example

legal illegal It’s illegal to bring fruit into this country.
il-
logical illogical His thought process was illogical.
patient impatient Matthew is an impatient man.
im-
mature immature My little sister is so immature.
regular irregular The verbs be, do and have are irregular.
ir-
responisble irresponsible It’s irresponsible to drive if you have been drinking