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Suffixes

—L’importante è che lei non mi canti più quelle canzonacce napoletane, perche io veramente non le sopporto.

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• Suffixes (i suffissi) are added to many Italian nouns and adjectives to denote affection, size, poor quality, ugliness, or other traits. As in English, adding a suffix can reflect the speaker’s feelings about a particular noun or the adjective used to describe it. For example, the two words, dog, cane, and doggie, cagnolino, demonstrate a difference that reflects the speaker’s perception (a doggie is cuter or more dear to the speaker than a dog).

Suffixes

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ATTENZIONE!

Be very careful when using suffixes and try to use only those you have learned from native speakers or teachers. Adding them to words you are not sure of can lead to misunderstandings or even trouble if you are not absolutely certain of the meaning of the word that you have coined! For example, cagnolino means doggie but canino means canine tooth, and un mulo, a mule, is not related to un mulino, a mill.

Suffixes

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• Italian is very rich in its choice and variety of suffixes. English tends to rely on adjectives to convey shades of meaning. An Italian might say «Che ragazzaccio!» whereas an English speaker would probably say “What a naughty boy!”

Suffixes

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Suffixes

• Some suffixes are associated with diminutives (smallness, cuteness, affection).

-ino/a/i/e

-etto/a/i/e

-ello/a/i/e

-olo/a/i/e

-uccio/a/i/e

-uzzo/a/i/e

un tavolo

un pezzo

una fontana

un figlio

una femmina

una vịa

un tavolino

un pezzetto

una fontanella

un figliolo

una femminuccia

una viụzza

a small table

a little piece

a little fountain

a little son, a little boy

a baby girl

a little street

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ATTENZIONE!

Note that more than one suffix can be added to the same noun.For example, una casa una cas-ett-ina.

Suffixes

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• Some suffixes indicate exaggeration or large size.

-one/a/i/e un naso

una minestra

un nasone

un minestrone

a big nose; big-nosed person

a big, hearty soup

Suffixes

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• Some suffixes are pejorative, denoting ugliness, poor quality, or nastiness.

-accio/a/i/e

-astro/a/i/e

-uccio/a/i/e

una parola

un poeta

una casa

una parolaccia

un poetastro

una casuccia

a swear word

a really bad poet

a small, unassuming house

Suffixes

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ATTENZIONE!

Sometimes a noun changes gender when a suffix is added. For example, una cucina, a kitchen, becomes un cucinino, a kitchenette; una finestra, a window, becomes un finestrino, a car window and una minestra, broth, becomes un minestrone, a hearty soup.

Suffixes

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• Some suffixes may also be added to adjectives and adverbs.

pigro pigrone bello bellino bene benino

Suffixes