Word building : negative prefixes and the suffixes « -ful » / « -less »

🔊 La maîtresse lit pour toi

Here is a word you know: possible. Here is another: impossible. Nobody taught you the second one — you built it, by putting two letters in front of the first. English does that all day long, and it is the cheapest way there is to double your vocabulary. But try the same two letters somewhere else: legal ⟹ “imlegal”? regular ⟹ “imregular”? Your ear refuses both. So the prefix is not free — each word takes its own. How does a word choose, and is there anything to hear?

🎓في نهاية هذا الدرس ستكون قادرا على:

بناء ضدّ الكلمة بالسوابق الستّ : ⁦il- · im- · in- · ir- · un- · dis-⁩
اختيار السابقة الصحيحة انطلاقا من الحرف الأوّل للكلمة
معرفة أنّ السابقة لا تنقل النبر : ⁦moral ⟹ immoral⁩ يبقى النبر في موضعه
بناء نعت من اسم باللاحقتين ⁦-ful⁩ (ذو) و⁦-less⁩ (بلا)
توسيع رصيدك اللغويّ من كلمة واحدة إلى ثلاث دون أن تحفظ ثلاثا

🔑يفترض هذا الدرس أنّك تتقن:

الفرق بين الاسم والنعت والفعل
قراءة رمز صوتيّ بين شرطتين مائلتين، وعلامة النبر ⁦ˈ⁩ التي تسبق المقطع المنبور
رصيدا من النعوت الأساسيّة : ⁦possible · legal · polite · happy⁩

Presentation

لاحظ الحوار أوّلا. كلمة واحدة فيه بُنيت بسابقة : ابحث عنها، ولاحظ ما يقوله الزبون الثاني عنها.

At the restaurant, and the two comments at the end

Waiter: Are you ready to eat? Customer A: Yes we are. I'd like a kouskous, please. Waiter: No kouskous on Fridays! Customer A: OK, I'll try the soup of the day then. Waiter: Anything else? Customer A: Yes, I'll have a cup of mint tea and a glass of water. Waiter: (to customer B) And you? Customer B: Just the chef's salad for me, please. “The two customers comment afterwards:” Customer A: The waiter was unfriendly, wasn't he? Customer B: No, he was not unfriendly. He was rude!

What does this dialogue tell you before you read any rule?

ماذا يعلّمك هذا الحوار قبل أن تقرأ القاعدة ؟

unfriendly is not a new word to learn: it is friendly, with two letters in front. The base word is still visible inside it, and so is its meaning.
Those two letters mean exactly one thing: not. Unfriendly = not friendly. Nothing has been added but a negation.
And now the interesting line. Customer B says: “He was not unfriendly. He was rude!” ⟹ if unfriendly simply meant bad, that sentence would make no sense. It means the absence of friendliness, and nothing worse. Rude is worse.
⟹ A negative prefix denies; it does not insult. Unhappy is not desperate, impolite is not rude. The prefix takes the word away — it does not put another one in its place.

One word, two letters, and a whole second vocabulary opens up. The rest of the lesson answers the only difficult question: which two letters?

A negative prefix turns a word into its opposite. English has six of them, and the word chooses. Three are chosen by the first letter of the word — with a few exceptions to learn (like ⟹ dislike, pleasure ⟹ displeasure): il- before a word beginning with l ⟹ legal ⟹ illegal ir- before a word beginning with r ⟹ regular ⟹ irregular im- before a word beginning with m or p ⟹ possible ⟹ impossible · polite ⟹ impolite Three have to be learnt word by word: in- — definite ⟹ indefinite · capable ⟹ incapable · justice ⟹ injustice un- — the commonest of all: friendly ⟹ unfriendly · happy ⟹ unhappy · just ⟹ unjust dis- — mostly with verbs and their nouns: agree ⟹ disagree · obey ⟹ disobey · like ⟹ dislike

The six prefixes at a glance

Prefix	When you use it	Examples
il-	the word begins with l	legal ⟹ illegal · logical ⟹ illogical
im-	the word begins with m or p	moral ⟹ immoral · possible ⟹ impossible · polite ⟹ impolite · probable ⟹ improbable
ir-	the word begins with r	regular ⟹ irregular · responsible ⟹ irresponsible
in-	learnt with the word	definite ⟹ indefinite · capable ⟹ incapable · justice ⟹ injustice
un-	learnt with the word; the commonest	friendly ⟹ unfriendly · happy ⟹ unhappy · known ⟹ unknown
dis-	mostly verbs, and the nouns made from them	agree ⟹ disagree · obey ⟹ disobey · satisfaction ⟹ dissatisfaction · pleasure ⟹ displeasure

Three prefixes are decided by the first letter of the word: l calls il-, r calls ir-, m and p call im- (with a few exceptions, such as dislike and displeasure). The other three are decided by usage, and the dictionary is the only judge.

🔊 Say them out loud — and notice that the stress does not move

moral becomes immoral — /ɪˈmɒrəl/. The stress stays on the syllable that already had it; the prefix is said quickly and low.
regular /ˈreɡjələ/ ⟹ irregular · capable /ˈkeɪpəbl/ ⟹ incapable · possible /ˈpɒsəbl/ ⟹ impossible
responsible /rɪˈspɒnsəbl/ ⟹ irresponsible · legal /ˈliːɡl/ ⟹ illegal · justice /ˈdʒʌstɪs/ ⟹ injustice
probable /ˈprɒbəbl/ ⟹ improbable · definite /ˈdefnɪt/ ⟹ indefinite · polite /pəˈlaɪt/ ⟹ impolite
obey /əʊˈbeɪ/ ⟹ disobey · agree /əˈɡriː/ ⟹ disagree

The other end of the word: -ful and -less

الطرف الآخر من الكلمة : لاحقتان تبنيان نعتا من اسم.

Build two adjectives from one noun

A prefix goes in front and says no. A suffix goes behind and changes what the word is. Take the noun care. Add -ful: you get an adjective that means “with care”. Add -less: you get one that means “without care”. ⟹ Do the same with these four nouns, and write the two adjectives each time: a. use b. hope c. help d. power

The answers, and the rule behind them

الأجوبة، والقاعدة التي وراءها.

a. useful / useless · b. hopeful / hopeless · c. helpful / helpless · d. powerful / powerless Eight adjectives out of four nouns, and you did not open a dictionary once.

noun + -ful = having it, full of it. care ⟹ careful · use ⟹ useful · beauty ⟹ beautiful noun + -less = without it. care ⟹ careless · use ⟹ useless · home ⟹ homeless ⛔ The spelling trap: “-ful” takes ONE l, even though it comes from the word full. Careful, useful, beautiful — never “carefull”. ⚠️ And they are not always a pair. Homeless exists, “homeful” does not. Beautiful exists, “beautiless” does not.

The pairs worth knowing by heart

care — **careful** / **careless** · use — **useful** / **useless**hope — **hopeful** / **hopeless** · help — **helpful** / **helpless**power — **powerful** / **powerless** · harm — **harmful** / **harmless**only one of the two — **beautiful** · **wonderful** · **homeless** · **endless**

⭐ Put the two mechanisms together and one root feeds you three words. From care: careful, careless, and then the prefix on top — uncaring. From use: useful, useless, and misuse. ⟹ Word building is not vocabulary revision: it is the only part of the language where you can make words you have never been taught.

⛔ Three mistakes to bury now. — not “imlegal”, not “unpossible”. When the word begins with l or r, the prefix copies that letter: illegal, irregular; before m and p it becomes im-: impossible. Read the first letter before you choose. — not “carefull”, not “usefull”. The suffix is -ful, with one l. The word full keeps its two; the suffix loses one. — not “He is not unhappy, he is very unhappy.” A prefix denies, it does not intensify. To say more, change the adjective, not the prefix: unhappy ⟹ miserable.

⛔ ثلاثة أخطاء : لا تجمع النفيين (⛔ ⁦not unpossible⁩) · ⁦-ful⁩ بلام واحدة · السابقة تنفي ولا تشتم.

Practice

تمارين. أنجزها على كرّاسك أوّلا، ثمّ افتح التصحيح.

Exercise 1 — Fill in with the opposite of the word in brackets

a. Verbs can be divided into two groups: there are regular verbs and … ones. (regular) b. “An” is an … article. It is used before a vowel sound. (definite) c. It is … to steal. You can go to prison. (legal) d. It is … to interrupt people like that. Next time, wait for your turn to speak. (polite) e. Mother punished me yesterday because I … her orders. (obey) f. I … with you, Rachid, when you say that studies are not important. (agree)

Answers to Exercise 1

	Answer	Why that prefix
a	…and irregular ones.	the word begins with r ⟹ ir-
b	“An” is an indefinite article.	definite takes in-, and it has to be learnt
c	It is illegal to steal.	the word begins with l ⟹ il-
d	It is impolite to interrupt people like that.	the word begins with p ⟹ im-
e	…because I disobeyed her orders.	obey is a verb ⟹ dis-, and here in the past simple
f	I disagree with you, Rachid.	agree is a verb ⟹ dis-

Exercise 2 — Say it in one word

Rewrite each sentence, replacing the words in bold by one word built with a prefix or a suffix. a. Your answer is not correct. b. It is not possible to find him at home now. c. I am not satisfied with what you are doing. d. This old map is of no use to us. e. He crossed the road without any care.

Answers to Exercise 2

Your answer is incorrect.
It is impossible to find him at home now.
I am dissatisfied with what you are doing.
This old map is useless to us.
He crossed the road carelessly.

⭐ Look at the last one. From the noun care you built the adjective careless, and then the adverb carelessly — three words, one root, and only two endings learnt. ⟹ Count the words in each sentence before and after. Every time, word building has replaced three words by one, and the sentence has become sharper. That is what examiners call style.

At the BEM, word building is one of the safest questions of Mastery of language: “give the opposite of the words in bold”, or “complete with the right form of the word in brackets”. It is safe because it is rule-based — nothing has to be guessed. Keep three things ready: l, r, m and p decide the prefix (illegal, irregular, immoral, impossible) ; dis- goes with verbs (disagree, disobey, dislike) ; and -ful means with, -less means without, and -ful takes one l. ⛔ The mistake examiners see every year: “unpossible”, and “carefull” with two l.

You know far more English words than you have learnt, because English builds words in front of you. At the beginning of a word, six prefixes say no — and three of them, il-, ir- and im-, are simply chosen by the first letter of the word. At the end, -ful says with and -less says without. Learn one root, apply the two mechanisms, and you leave with three words instead of one — and with the ability to build the fourth yourself.

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