Build words: impossibile, rifare, librone

Not: in-, im-, il-, ir-

The most common way to say not is in-: capace → incapace, utile → inutile, aspettato → inaspettato. Its n changes to match the next sound: im- before p, b and m, il- before l and ir- before r. Before m, l and r that gives a double consonant.

English uses un-, in- and im- for the same job, but Italian never uses un-: uncomfortable is scomodo, unhappy is scontento or infelice.

Not every in- means not: infiammabile means flammable, just like English inflammable.

Not, or undo: dis- and s-

Dis- makes an opposite or undoes an action: onesto → disonesto, ordinato → disordinato, accordo → disaccordo, fare → disfare (to undo, to unpack). S- does the same job before a consonant: contento → scontento, conosciuto → sconosciuto, cortese → scortese, caricare → scaricare.

Each word takes one prefix and you can’t swap them: it’s scontento, never incontento. Learn them as you meet them; the meaning is easy to guess.

Caricare is to load or to upload, so scaricare is to unload or to download.

Again or back: ri-

Ri- goes on almost any verb to mean again or back: fare → rifare, leggere → rileggere, chiamare → richiamare (call back), tornare → ritornare, dare → ridare (give back). It keeps its i before a vowel: riaprire, rientrare.

Italian has no re- for this: refare and rescrivere are English habits. And not every ri- word is about repeating: ricevere (receive), ridere (laugh) and riposare (rest) are verbs of their own.

Before, after, under, over, between

Pre- means before (preriscaldare, to preheat) and post- means after (posticipare, to postpone). Sotto- is under or too little (sottotitoli, sottovalutare), sopra- or sovra- is over or too much (sopravvalutare, sovraffollato, sovrappeso), and inter- is between (internazionale, interregionale).

Watch the spelling: sopra- and sovra- usually double the next consonant (sopravvalutare, soprannome, sovrappeso), though not always (sopravvivere, to survive), and sotto- never does (sottovalutare).

In antipasto and anticipare, anti- comes from an old word for before: an antipasto comes before the meal, it isn’t against pasta.

Against, beyond, way too much, together

Anti- means against: antifurto (anti-theft), antipioggia (rainproof), antizanzare (mosquito repellent). Anti- + a noun gives a word that never changes: due giacche antipioggia. Extra- means outside or beyond (extrascolastico, extravergine), and ultra- means extremely (ultraleggero, ultramoderno).

Stra- is the everyday way too, a bit informal: strapieno (packed), stracarico (overloaded), stracotto (overcooked). Co- and con- mean together: coinquilino (flatmate), condividere (to share), convivere (to live together). Like in-, con- matches the next sound: collaborare, compaesano.

Small, big and bad: -ino, -etto, -one, -accio

Endings can change the size or the feeling of a noun. -ino and -etto make it small or cute: gattino, tavolino, casetta. -one makes it big: librone, nasone. -accio makes it bad or ugly: tempaccio, giornataccia.

-ino, -etto and -accio keep the gender: la casa → la casetta, la giornata → la giornataccia. With -one, a feminine noun often turns masculine: la porta → il portone, la palla → il pallone. Nouns in -co and -go add an h to keep the hard sound: lago → laghetto, pacco → pacchetto.

Many altered words now have a meaning of their own: il portone is the main door of a building, il pallone a football, la parolaccia a swear word, and fare una figuraccia means to embarrass yourself.

Use them on people with care: un ragazzone is a big lad, but un ragazzaccio is a bad boy.

Look-alikes

Some words only look as if they have one of these endings. Il mulino is a mill, not a small mule (mulo). Il lampone is a raspberry, not a big lamp. Il burrone is a ravine, not a lot of butter (burro). The same goes for il mattone (brick), il tacchino (turkey) and la focaccia, which has nothing to do with a foca (seal).

If the small, big or bad meaning doesn’t make sense in context, the word is probably one of these.

Common mistakes

• inpossibileimpossibileBefore p, b and m, in- turns into im-.
• ilegale, iregolareillegale, irregolareIl- and ir- give a double l or r.
• uncontentoscontentoItalian has no un-. Contento takes s-.
• refarerifareFor again, Italian uses ri-, never re-.
• sopravalutatosopravvalutatoSopra- and sovra- usually double the next consonant.
• una portonaun portoneWith -one, feminine nouns usually turn masculine.
• due giacche antipioggedue giacche antipioggiaAnti- + a noun never changes.

The full table

Prefixes change the meaning; endings change the size or the feeling.

Il- and ir- double the consonant: illegale, irregolare. Sopra- and sovra- usually do too: sopravvalutare.

-one often makes a feminine noun masculine: la porta → il portone.

Look-alikes: mulino (mill), lampone (raspberry), burrone (ravine).