About Italian Affixes

Hi Everyone.

Can anyone give me information about Italian affixes “Suffixes & Prefixes” , specially their rules and numbers.

I couldn’t find sufficient information about it on Google. So I need your help.

And Thank you.

the above links are all about diminutives.

Prefixes and suffixes in Italian pretty much follow the prefixes and suffixes for any Latin based language, but with an Italian pronunciation shift of course.

The following are examples, off the top of my head, so not guaranteed to be comprehensive:
prefixes:
ri : just like English “re”, an action repeated. “rifatto” = “redone”
dis : just like English “dis”, undone or opposite. “disapprovato” = “disapproved”
sopra : above. “soprattutto” = “above all”. “soprannome” = nickname
sovra : too much. “sovrappeso” = overweight. “sovraccaricato” = “overloaded”
sotto : under. “sottolineare” = underline / emphasize. “sottomettere” = to subdue / put under
pre ; just like English “pre”, before. “prevedere” = preview / forsee. “preavviso” = “forwarning”
para : shield. “parasole” = parasol (sun sheild). “parabrezza” = windsheild. “parastinchi” = shin guard
porta : carrier. “portabagagli” = trunk (bag carrier). “portabicchiere” = cupholder. “portafoglio” = wallet (bill holder)
stra : extra. “strapieno” = extra full. “straordinario” = extraordinary
iper : just like English “hyper”
ipo : just like English “hypo”
super : just like English “super” “supereroe” = superhero

suffixes: (not including diminuitives)
zione : just like English “tion” or “cion”. “trasformazione” = transformation
mento : just like English “ment”. “stabilimento” = establishment
mente : English “ly”, referring almost exclusively to adverbs. “periodicamente” = “periodically”. “velocemente” = “quickly”
ità : English “ity”. “qualità” = quality. “probabilità” = probability
ando / endo : English “ing”, the present participle suffix. “terminando” = “terminating”. “dormendo” = sleeping
ato / uto / ito : English “ed” or “ated”. past participle / adjective suffix. “colorato” = “colored”. “deteriorato” = deteriorated. “dotato” = equipped / capable
astro : English “ish”, approximate. “bluastro” = blueish. (can also be used as a peggiorative: “fratellastro” = bad little brother)

here is a better list I just found:

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Good post, Dominick! Just a few corrections:

  • sopra: sopraTTutto, sopraNNome
  • para and porta are verbs, not prefixes!
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spelling mistakes fixed… odd that my spell check didn’t catch those.

I also modified one of the links to go to the proper prefixes page.

I left para and porta since they are used like prefixes in the examples I gave, even though porta doesn’t show up on the prefixes list I linke and para is used for its other meaning.

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Actually, these are “compound words” composed by verb+noun, like many others: apriscatole, chiudilettera, mangiadischi.
Para- is also a Greek prefix with the meaning of “next to”, “similar to”, “alternative to”, like in paramedico, parafarmacia.

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paranormale

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Yes, that is a prefix! :slight_smile:

how about rompiscatole? :stuck_out_tongue:

That’s a compound word like paralume (verb+noun). Proper prefixes are those that can’t stand alone (ri, dis… are not autonomous words).

Thank you all for your replies, I really appreciate it.