Spanish Adjective Suffixes

Spanish rarely invents a fresh adjective from nothing. It takes a noun or a verb it already owns and bolts on a suffix, and that suffix carries a fixed meaning. Fama (fame) becomes famoso (famous); aceptar (to accept) becomes aceptable (acceptable); cultura (culture) becomes cultural. For a B2 learner this is a large payoff. When you meet an adjective you have never seen, you do not guess in the dark. You strip off the ending, find the base word underneath, and the ending tells you what has been done to it. Maravilloso is maravilla (wonder) plus -oso, "full of wonder". Recomendable is recomendar plus -able, "worth recommending". This page walks through the productive suffixes one at a time.

The one table to keep

-oso and -osa: full of a noun

This suffix goes on a noun and means "full of" or "characterised by" it. It is one of the most productive adjective endings in the language:

• fama (fame) -> famoso (famous, full of fame)
• peligro (danger) -> peligroso (dangerous)
• cariño (affection) -> cariñoso (affectionate)
• maravilla (wonder) -> maravilloso (wonderful)
• ansia (anxiety, longing) -> ansioso (anxious)

Whenever an adjective ends in -oso, look for the noun inside it and read the word as "full of that". Nervioso is full of nervio, famoso is full of fama.

-able and -ible: able to be done

This one goes on a verb and makes a passive adjective, "able to be done" or "worth doing". It describes the thing the action is done to, not the thing that does it:

• aceptar (to accept) -> aceptable (acceptable)
• comer (to eat) -> comible (edible)
• creer (to believe) -> creíble (believable)
• romper (to break) -> rompible (breakable)
• recomendar (to recommend) -> recomendable (worth recommending)

As a rough rule, -ar verbs take -able and -er and -ir verbs take -ible, but the meaning is identical. Stick the negative prefix in- on the front and you get the opposite: rompible (breakable) becomes irrompible (unbreakable), creíble becomes increíble (incredible). A dish that is comible can be eaten; an excuse that is aceptable can be accepted.

-ante, -ente and -iente: doing the action

These come from the old present participle, the "doing" form of the verb, so they describe something that actively does the action. They are the mirror image of -able:

• importar (to matter) -> importante (important)
• sorprender (to surprise) -> sorprendente (surprising)
• interesar (to interest) -> interesante (interesting)
• sobrevivir (to survive) -> superviviente (surviving, a survivor)

The -ar verbs take -ante and the -er and -ir verbs take -ente or -iente. Where -able describes the thing acted on, -ante and -ente describe the thing that acts: a film that is sorprendente surprises you, a topic that is interesante interests you.

-al and -ar: relating to a noun

Add -al (or -ar after a stem with an "l" in it) to a noun and you get "relating to" or "of" that thing:

• cultura (culture) -> cultural
• nación (nation) -> nacional (national)
• mundo (world) -> mundial (world, worldwide)
• familia (family) -> familiar (family, familiar)

La copa mundial is the World Cup, un problema familiar is a family matter. The -ar form (familiar) turns up when the base already carries an "l", to keep the two sounds apart.

-ico and -ica: relating to (again)

Another "relating to" ending on a noun, this one always stressed with a written accent on the syllable before it:

• economía (economy) -> económico (economic)
• historia (history) -> histórico (historic, historical)
• base (base) -> básico (basic)

Note the accent: económico, histórico, básico. The stress jumps back and the mark is compulsory.

-ivo and -iva: tending to

Built from verbs and some nouns, -ivo means "tending to" or "inclined to" the action:

• crear (to create) -> creativo (creative)
• deporte (sport) -> deportivo (sporty, sporting)
• agredir (to attack) -> agresivo (aggressive)

An actitud creativa tends to create; una persona agresiva tends to attack.

-dor and -dora: given to doing

This suffix goes on a verb and describes someone or something given to the action, doing it habitually:

• hablar (to speak) -> hablador (talkative)
• trabajar (to work) -> trabajador (hard-working, a worker)
• ganar (to win) -> ganador (winning, a winner)

The same words double as nouns for the person or thing that does the job: el ganador (the winner), una lavadora (a washing machine, from lavar).

Origin and nationality: -és, -ano and -ense

Finally, a family of suffixes glued to a place name to say where someone or something is from:

• Francia (France) -> francés / francesa (French)
• Italia (Italy) -> italiano / italiana (Italian)
• Canadá (Canada) -> canadiense (Canadian)

The -és ending takes an accent in the masculine (francés) that vanishes in the feminine (francesa). The -ense form does not change for gender at all: un actor canadiense, una actriz canadiense.

The habit worth building

When a new adjective lands in front of you, look at its ending before you reach for a dictionary. If it finishes in -oso, find the noun inside and read "full of". If it finishes in -able or -ible, find the verb and read "able to be done". If it finishes in -ante or -ente, the verb is doing the action. If it finishes in -al, -ico or -ivo, it relates to or tends towards the base. That single glance hands you the base word and half the meaning for free, which is what makes these suffixes worth learning as a set rather than one dusty word at a time.

See also

• Spanish noun suffixes - the companion set of endings that turn verbs and adjectives into nouns, and the gender each one carries.
• Adjective agreement - how these adjectives change their ending to match the noun in gender and number.
• The Spanish grammar cheatsheet collects the productive suffixes on one card.