English Suffixes: How Word Endings Change a Word's Job

Suffixes come at the end of a word, and they often change its part of speech. Recognising them helps with vocabulary, grammar and spelling.

Suffixes that make nouns

• -tion / -sion (action, result): decide becomes decision; educate becomes education.
• -ment: achieve becomes achievement; govern becomes government.
• -ness: happy becomes happiness; kind becomes kindness.
• -ity: able becomes ability; possible becomes possibility.
• -er / -or (person or thing that does): teach becomes teacher; act becomes actor.
• -ist: art becomes artist; science becomes scientist.
• -ship: friend becomes friendship.
• -hood: child becomes childhood.
• -ance / -ence: appear becomes appearance; depend becomes dependence.

Suffixes that make adjectives

• -ful: full of (careful, helpful)
• -less: without (careless, hopeless)
• -able / -ible: can be done (readable, flexible)
• -ous: having the quality of (dangerous, famous)
• -ive: tending to (active, creative)
• -al: relating to (musical, national)
• -ic: relating to (heroic, scientific)
• -y: characterised by (rainy, sleepy)
• -ish: somewhat (reddish, childish)

Suffixes that make verbs

• -ize / -ise: make or become (modernise, organise)
• -ify: make (simplify, purify)
• -en: become (widen, brighten)
• -ate: cause to be (activate, motivate)

Suffixes that make adverbs

• -ly: in a way (quickly, happily)
• -ward(s): direction (homeward, backwards)
• -wise: in the manner of (clockwise)

Spelling changes to expect

• Drop a silent e before a vowel suffix: make becomes making, but keep it before a consonant suffix: hope becomes hopeful.
• Change y to i after a consonant: happy becomes happiness; carry becomes carried.
• Double the final consonant in short words with a stressed vowel: run becomes running; begin becomes beginning.
• Exceptions abound, so check a dictionary when unsure.

Same root, different jobs

A single root can appear in many forms:

• Create (verb), creation (noun), creative (adjective), creatively (adverb), creator (person).

Learning the family together multiplies your vocabulary.

Why it matters for writing

Choosing the right form is a common test in exams and a common slip in everyday writing. "She spoke confident" should be confidently; "the decide was hard" should be decision.

Suffixes and meaning shifts

Some suffixes subtly change meaning: childish (negative) versus childlike (positive); economic (relating to the economy) versus economical (thrifty). A dictionary shows the difference.

Practice

Take ten verbs, and write out their noun, adjective and adverb forms. Check each in a dictionary, noting which forms don't exist.

Look up word forms and meanings with English Dictionary →