AFFIXES (afixos)

Adicionar afixos em palavras existentes (a base ou a raiz) para formar uma nova palavra
é muito comum em inglês. Prefixos (prefixes) são colocados na frente da base das
palavras (like dislike), enquanto que os sufixos (suffixes) são colocados no final das
palavras (active activate). Geralmente os prefixos não mudam ou alteram a classe da
palavra, mas os sufixos costumam mudar a classe da palavra. Os prefixos mais comuns
em inglês e suas funções são:

PREFIXES

- Un – Unconfortable ( sentido negativo, oposto)

- In – Incovenient (sentido negativo, oposto)

- Over – Overtired (excesso)

SUFFIXES

- less – Useless (sem, menos, menor, inferior)

- ive – Productive (adjetivo)

- able – Countable (adjetivo)

- ible – Flexible (adjetivo)

- ous – Delicious (adjetivo)

- ly – Slowly (advérbio)

Common Prefixes
Prefix Meaning Example

pre- before They will show a sneak preview of the movie.

un- not The cafeteria will be unavailable tomorrow morning.

dis- not Mark disagreed with John's philosophy.

re- again Are you going to renew your subscription?

mis- not He has mismanaged the company.

im- not With hard work and determination, nothing is impossible.

bi- two Henry recently received his first pair of bifocals.

 Many ecologists are concerned about the deforestation of our
de- not
world's rain forests.

Common Suffixes
Suffixes Meaning Example

-er doer I work as a computer programmer.

-able able These glass bottles are recyclable.

-ous full of Driving on the freeway can be dangerous.

-ness state of being At night, the earth is covered in darkness.

-ful full of The witness gave an honest and truthful testimony.

-ly or -y like James whistled happily on his way home from school.

-ment state of Mary sighed with contentment.

**Note que o uso dos sufixos e prefixos depende muito mais de um contato rico com a
língua do que decorar regras. Lendo ou ouvindo bons textos, podemos nos aproximar do
sentido que o uso dos prefixos e sufixos dão às palavras.

Children are very creative (create)

Paul is ___________________ hardworking (extreme)

It was very__________________ of him not to help you (kind)

He’s a lucky man. He’s been____________________ married for ten years (happy)

My girlfriend likes the color green, but I find it ________________________________

(attract)

She was fired from her job because she was ___________________________________
(efficient)