Word formation: adjectives in -ful/-ic/-ous, nouns in -ness/-ty, verbs in -en

🔊 The teacher reads for you

« Humour makes our minds broader. » Say it in one word: humour broadens our minds. A suffix is enough to turn an adjective into a verb (broad → broaden), a noun into an adjective (joy → joyful, comedy → comic), an adjective into a noun (kind → kindness). You already know these suffixes; this lesson makes sure you can use them. So which suffix makes a verb, which an adjective, and which a noun?

🎓في نهاية هذا الدرس ستكون قادرا على:

تكوين صفات من الأسماء باللواحق ⁦-ful⁩ و ⁦-ic⁩ و ⁦-ous⁩
تكوين أسماء من الصفات باللاحقتين ⁦-ness⁩ و ⁦-ty⁩
تكوين أفعال من الصفات باللاحقة ⁦-en⁩، مثل ⁦bright → brighten⁩
التعرّف على قسم الكلمة من لاحقتها، لتخمين معنى الكلمات الصعبة

🔑يفترض هذا الدرس أنّك تتقن:

أقسام الكلمة: الاسم والفعل والصفة والظرف
لواحق درستها من قبل: ⁦-ment, -ic, -able, -ive, -al⁩
صيغة المقارنة في الصفات ⁦(broader, deeper)⁩

1. Adjectives in -ful, -ic and -ous

اللواحق ⁦-ful⁩ و ⁦-ic⁩ و ⁦-ous⁩ تصنع صفات من الأسماء، واللاحقة تدلّ على قسم الكلمة فتساعد على تخمين معناها.

Suffixes such as -ic, -ous, -ful, -ness, -ity, -ly or -y indicate the category of a word: noun, adjective or adverb. It is important to know them, because they can help you guess the meaning of difficult words. Three of them form adjectives from nouns: -ful (hope → hopeful), -ic (hero → heroic), -ous (courage → courageous). The noun sometimes changes its spelling before the suffix, so check the adjective in a dictionary when you are not sure.

Derive adjectives from these nouns. Add a suffix when necessary.

funstresstragedyhumourself-satisfactionsicknesshelpjoycomedythoughtoptimismworry

Task 1 — the twelve adjectives

الصفات الاثنتا عشرة، ولاحقة كلّ واحدة.

Noun	Adjective	Suffix
stress	stressful	-ful
help	helpful	-ful
joy	joyful	-ful
thought	thoughtful	-ful
tragedy	tragic	-ic
comedy	comic	-ic
optimism	optimistic	-ic
humour	humorous	-ous
fun	funny	-y
worry	worried	-ed
self-satisfaction	self-satisfied	-ed
sickness	sick	the suffix -ness is taken off

Watch the spelling: tragedy → tragic, comedy → comic, humour → humorous — the u of humour disappears. And sickness already carries a suffix: its adjective is found by taking -ness off.

2. Nouns in -ness and -ty

اللاحقتان ⁦-ness⁩ و ⁦-ty⁩ تصنعان أسماء من الصفات، وكثير من أسماء المشاعر والفضائل مصنوع بهما.

Two suffixes form nouns from adjectives: -ness (dark → darkness, soft → softness) and -ty or -ity (honest → honesty). Many abstract nouns — the names of feelings and qualities — are built this way. Other noun suffixes appear in the same family: -ship (friendship), -ism (heroism, patriotism).

Feelings and qualities — which nouns are formed with -ness or -ty?

lovefriendshipselfishnesshatredangerdislikehonestygenerositykindnessjealousyheroismpatriotism

Task 2 — the nouns in -ness and -ty, and their adjectives

الأسماء المنتهية بـ ⁦-ness⁩ و ⁦-ty⁩، والصفات التي صُنعت منها.

Noun	Suffix	Adjective
selfishness	-ness	selfish
kindness	-ness	kind
honesty	-ty	honest
generosity	-ity	generous

The others are formed differently: friendship, heroism, patriotism, jealousy, hatred — or they are not formed with a suffix at all: love, anger, and dislike, which takes the prefix dis-. Notice generous → generosity: the -ous of the adjective becomes -os- before -ity.

3. Verbs in -en

اللاحقة ⁦-en⁩ تصنع أفعالا من بعض الصفات: ⁦bright → brighten⁩. والفعل يعوّض عبارة ⁦make + adjective⁩.

In English, we can form verbs by adding the suffix -en to some adjectives: « His face brightened up when he heard the good news. » The verb brighten is formed with the adjective bright and the suffix -en. Such a verb often takes the place of make + adjective: make a knife sharp → sharpen it. An adjective that ends in -e only adds -n: white → whiten.

Turn the adjectives in bold into verbs with the suffix -en. Then rewrite the text with the verbs, making the necessary changes.

Humour makes our minds broader because it allows us to see the funny side of life. Moreover, it can make our emotional lives deeper and wider since it develops in us that capacity to laugh at ourselves. Without it, our life expectancy would be shorter, and our prospects would be darker. More importantly, while hardship makes our lives rough, humour makes them softer.

Task 3 — the seven verbs, and the text rewritten

الأفعال السبعة، والنصّ بعد إعادة كتابته.

broad → broadendeep → deepenwide → widenshort → shortendark → darkenrough → roughensoft → soften

« Humour broadens our minds because it allows us to see the funny side of life. Moreover, it can deepen and widen our emotional lives since it develops in us that capacity to laugh at ourselves. Without it, our life expectancy would shorten, and our prospects would darken. More importantly, while hardship roughens our lives, humour softens them. » The necessary changes: make … broader becomes broadens, would be shorter becomes would shorten. The verb in -en already contains the idea of « more ».

4. What the suffix tells you

اللاحقة تدلّ على قسم الكلمة: ⁦-ness, -ity⁩ للأسماء، و ⁦-ful, -ous, -ic, -ish⁩ للصفات، و ⁦-ly⁩ للظروف في الغالب.

Add a suffix to the words which can carry one. Then classify them: adjectives, adverbs, nouns. What do you notice?

bitterfriendlyhappilylonelysadtenderhumourkindpeacegracegenerouscourageousselfpessimistchauvinistenthusiastfaith

Task 4 — the words, their category, and the new words

قسم كلّ كلمة، والكلمات الجديدة المصنوعة بلاحقة.

Word	Category	With a suffix
bitter	adjective	bitterness (noun) · bitterly (adverb)
friendly	adjective	friendliness (noun)
happily	adverb	—
lonely	adjective	loneliness (noun)
sad	adjective	sadness (noun) · sadly (adverb)
tender	adjective	tenderness (noun) · tenderly (adverb)
humour	noun	humorous (adjective)
kind	adjective	kindness (noun) · kindly (adverb)
peace	noun	peaceful (adjective)
grace	noun	graceful (adjective)
generous	adjective	generosity (noun) · generously (adverb)
courageous	adjective	courageously (adverb)
self	noun	selfish (adjective)
pessimist	noun	pessimistic (adjective)
chauvinist	noun	chauvinistic (adjective)
enthusiast	noun	enthusiastic (adjective)
faith	noun	faithful (adjective)

What do you notice? A suffix always gives the same category: -ness and -ity make nouns; -ful, -ous, -ic and -ish make adjectives; -ly makes adverbs — except in friendly and lonely, two adjectives that already end in -ly. Happily is already an adverb: it carries no other suffix.

Do this alone, in writing. Write four sentences about someone you admire. Use one adjective in -ful, -ic or -ous, one noun in -ness or -ty, and one verb in -en. Then check each new word: is it in the right place — an adjective before a noun or after be, a noun as subject or object, a verb after its subject?

اكتب وحدك أربع جمل عن شخص تُعجب به، فيها صفة بـ ⁦-ful⁩ أو ⁦-ic⁩ أو ⁦-ous⁩، واسم بـ ⁦-ness⁩ أو ⁦-ty⁩، وفعل بـ ⁦-en⁩.

A model answer

My grandmother is a humorous woman: her jokes always brighten our family meals. Her kindness has no limits, and her generosity is known to all our neighbours. When we are sad, her words soften our pain. She is helpful to everyone.

In the exam, word formation is tested in a chart to complete — a noun, an adjective, a verb, an adverb from the same root — or in a sentence where you give the right form of the word in brackets. Have three things ready: ① -ful, -ic, -ous make adjectives from nouns (helpful, tragic, humorous); ② -ness and -ty make nouns from adjectives (kindness, honesty, generosity); ③ -en makes verbs from adjectives (bright → brighten, soft → soften). ⚠️ The frequent mistakes are in the spelling: « humourous » for humorous, « generousity » for generosity, « tragedic » for tragic.

What I keep — A suffix tells the category of a word. -ful, -ic and -ous make adjectives from nouns: help → helpful, comedy → comic, humour → humorous. -ness and -ty make nouns from adjectives: kind → kindness, generous → generosity. -en makes verbs from adjectives: bright → brighten, broad → broaden — humour broadens our minds. And -ly makes adverbs, except in friendly and lonely.

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