Word formation in French: prefixes and suffixes
A vocabulary grows in two ways. One is learning new words — that is the slow one. The other is the 33 building blocks on this page: with one word and a few of them, you have a whole family.
The suffixes matter more than the prefixes, for a reason you rarely read: they tell you the part of speech. With them you can place an unknown word in its sentence before you know what it means.
The opposite
in-, im-, il- and ir- are one prefix, spelt to suit the next sound; mal-, dé- and mé- add «badly», «undone» and «wrongly».
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| in- | reverses the meaning; English in-, often un- | inutile, incapable, injuste, incertain |
| The commonest of the four, and like its English twin it changes shape with the first sound of the stem — see the next three. Where English says un-, French often says in-: incertain «uncertain», injuste «unjust». Before a consonant it is the nasal vowel of vin; before a vowel, as in inutile, you hear an ordinary n. | ||
| im- | the same as in-, before b, m and p | impossible, impatient, imprudent, immobile |
| Not a separate piece but the same one, for the same reason as in English: an n is awkward to say before b, m or p. Before b and p the vowel is nasal, as in impossible; before m it is not, so immobile begins with a plain «ee-m». | ||
| il- | the same as in-, before l | illégal, illisible, illimité, illogique |
| Spelt exactly as in English, with the l doubled: illégal, illogique. | ||
| ir- | the same as in-, before r | irrégulier, irréel, irresponsable, irréparable |
| The double r is written but not heard: irrégulier has the same single French r as régulier. | ||
| mal- | badly, unluckily; English mal-, un-, dis- | malheureux, malhonnête, maladroit, malchance |
| English borrowed maladroit whole, but there it is a bookish word and here it is the everyday one for «clumsy». malheureux covers both «unhappy» and «unfortunate». | ||
| dé- | undoes an action; English un-, de-, dis- | défaire, décharger, démonter, déplacer |
| Before a vowel it is written dés-: désordre, désagréable. déplacer is the everyday verb for moving something somewhere else. | ||
| mé- | wrongly, badly; English mis-, dis- | méconnaître, mécontent, médire, mésentente |
| It does the job of English mis-: méconnaître is «to misjudge or fail to recognise», médire «to speak ill of someone». Before a vowel it becomes més-: mésentente, «a falling-out». | ||
More prefixes
Again, before, too much, too little, between, together, across.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| re- | again, back; English re- | refaire, revenir, relire, reprendre |
| Before a vowel it becomes r- or ré-: rouvrir, «to reopen»; réécrire, «to rewrite». As in English, not every re- still means «again»: reprendre is «to take back», «to resume» and «to have a second helping». | ||
| pré- | before, in advance; English pre- | prévoir, prévenir, préparer, préavis |
| prévenir is a false friend: in everyday French it usually means «to warn» or «to let someone know» — préviens-moi, «let me know» — rather than «to prevent». | ||
| sur- | too much, over; English over- | surcharger, surestimer, surveiller, surprendre |
| In surveiller, «to keep watch over», it means «over» rather than «too much» — English «surveillance» is the French noun made from that verb. | ||
| sous- | too little, under; English under-, sub- | sous-estimer, sous-sol, sous-titre, sous-louer |
| In most words it keeps its hyphen: a sous-sol is «a basement», a sous-titre «a subtitle». | ||
| entre- | between, each other; English inter- | entretenir, entreprendre, entrevoir, entracte |
| In the commonest words the meaning has worn thin: entretenir is «to maintain or look after», entreprendre «to undertake». Before a vowel the e goes: entracte, «the interval at the theatre». | ||
| co- | together; English co- | collaborer, coéquipier, cohabiter, coauteur |
| Before l it doubles into coll-: collaborer. Before a vowel it simply sits in front: coéquipier, «a team-mate». | ||
| trans- | across, through; English trans- | transporter, transférer, transmettre, transformer |
| transférer is also the ordinary word for forwarding a message or moving money between accounts. | ||
Suffixes that make nouns
A verb becomes an action, an adjective becomes a quality — and the suffix usually tells you the gender too.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -tion | turns a verb into the action; English -tion | préparation, attention, question, solution |
| Every noun in -tion is feminine, with no exceptions — one of the few gender rules in French you can rely on completely. The spelling is the English one; the sound is not: «syon» with a nasal vowel, or «tyon» after an s, as in question. | ||
| -ment | turns a verb into the process; English -ment | changement, mouvement, paiement, logement |
| Nouns formed with it are masculine. On an adjective the same ending makes an adverb instead — lentement, in the last group. French uses it far more widely than English: logement is «housing», changement plain «change». | ||
| -eur | the person or machine that does it; English -er, -or | travailleur, vendeur, ordinateur, moteur |
| The feminine of a person depends on the word: vendeuse, travailleuse, but directrice and actrice for many words in -teur. | ||
| -ier | the trade, or the thing that holds it | cuisinier, boulanger, ouvrier, papier |
| The feminine takes a grave accent: la cuisinière, la boulangère — and une cuisinière is also «a cooker». | ||
| -erie | the shop or the workshop | boulangerie, boucherie, librairie, pâtisserie |
| All these shop names are feminine. librairie is «a bookshop», not «a library» — that is la bibliothèque. | ||
| -té | turns an adjective into the quality; English -ty | liberté, beauté, difficulté, qualité |
| Nouns formed with it are feminine, and they line up closely with English -ty: liberté «liberty», difficulté «difficulty». l’été and le côté end the same way but are not built with it, and are masculine. | ||
| -esse | turns an adjective into the quality; English -ness | richesse, faiblesse, tristesse, politesse |
| Feminine. English usually answers with -ness: faiblesse «weakness», tristesse «sadness», politesse «politeness». | ||
| -age | turns a verb into the process | passage, lavage, nettoyage, voyage |
| Always masculine — which catches out anyone who met la page, la plage and la cage first: in those the -age belongs to the word and is not this suffix. | ||
| -ance | turns a verb into the state; English -ance | confiance, connaissance, croissance, assurance |
| Feminine. assurance is «insurance» as well as «assurance», and connaissance is «knowledge» or «an acquaintance». | ||
| -ence | the same, spelt with e instead of a; English -ence | patience, différence, expérience, présence |
| -ance and -ence sound exactly alike, with the nasal vowel of temps, so the only way to know is to have seen the word. English usually has the same letter, but not always: indépendance has an a where English has an e. expérience is «an experiment» as well as «an experience». | ||
Suffixes that make adjectives
How to recognise a French adjective, and what its feminine looks like.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -eux | makes an adjective from a noun; English -ous | heureux, dangereux, nerveux, courageux |
| The feminine is -euse: heureuse, dangereuse. Most match English -ous: nerveux «nervous», courageux «courageous». | ||
| -able | turns a verb into «can be done»; English -able | possible, faisable, lavable, aimable |
| aimable is «kind or friendly», not «lovable». | ||
| -ible | the same, on another group of verbs; English -ible | visible, lisible, possible, terrible |
| lisible is built on the stem of lire, «to read», as in lisez — which is why it looks so unlike English «legible». | ||
| -if | makes an adjective from a verb; English -ive | actif, sportif, attentif, définitif |
| The masculine drops the English e and ends in f; the feminine is -ive, spelt as in English: actif, active. | ||
| -al | makes an adjective from a noun; English -al | national, normal, central, social |
| The masculine plural is -aux, not -als: normaux, centraux. The feminine is regular — normales — and a handful such as banal and naval keep -als. | ||
| -ais | the word for where someone comes from, and the language; English -ese, -ish | français, anglais, japonais, lyonnais |
| Unlike English, French writes the language and the adjective with a small letter; only the person gets a capital: le français, but un Français. The feminine is -aise. | ||
Suffixes that make verbs and adverbs
A quality becomes something you do, or the way you do it.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -iser | turns an adjective into an action; English -ise | réaliser, organiser, moderniser, utiliser |
| Always with an s, said like a z. réaliser is mainly to carry out or to make happen; the sense «to become aware of» exists, but it is informal. | ||
| -ifier | turns an adjective into «make it so»; English -ify | simplifier, clarifier, modifier, vérifier |
| One of the most reliable matches on the page: simplifier «simplify», clarifier «clarify», vérifier «verify». | ||
| -ement | turns an adjective into an adverb; English -ly | lentement, rapidement, heureusement, directement |
| It is added to the feminine form: lente plus -ment gives lentement, never lentment. An adjective that already ends in a vowel keeps its masculine: vrai, vraiment. | ||