When we talk about adjectives in English, many students ask me what prefixes and suffixes to add to a verb or noun to turn it into an adjective. Here are some useful rules:
-ful: added to nouns and shows the presence of a certain quality:
use – useful – полезен fruit – fruitful – плодовит
beauty – beautiful – красив
-less: added to nouns and shows the absence of a quality:
use – useless – безполезен, ненужен
help – helpless – безпомощен
-able: added to verbs and shows the possibility of performing or enduring the action
change – changeable – изменяем
love – lovable – обичлив
-ible: visible – видим
-al: central – централен
-ant, -ent: important – важен different – различен
-ary, -ory : elementary – елементарен preparatory – подготвителен
-ive: active – активен
-ous: famous – прочут
-y: added to nouns and means a quality or resemblance:
shade – shady – сенчест
sun – sunny – слънчев
-ish:
a) added to adjectives and means an incomplete degree of the quantity expressed by them:
old – oldish – възстар
sweet – sweetish – сладникава
b) it forms adjectives denoting national origin:
England – English
Spain – Spanish
-ward: means direction
south – southward – южен, който сочи към юг
back – backward – назадничав, изостанал
-ed: added to nouns:
talent – talented – талантлив
gift – gifted – даровит, надарен
-en: added to nouns and means what material something is made of
wood – wooden – дървен
gold – golden – златен; златист
-ic,-ical: added to nouns
atom – atomic- атомен
economy – economic – икономически
economy – economical – пестелив, икономичен