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. (fame) becomes (famous); (to accept) becomes (acceptable); (culture) becomes . 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. is (wonder) plus -, "full of wonder". Recomendable is plus -able, "worth recommending". This page walks through the productive suffixes one at a time.

The one table to keep

Suffix	From what	Meaning	Example
- / -osa	noun	full of, characterised by	->
-able / -ible	verb	able to be done	->
- / -ente	verb	doing, that does	->
- / -ar	noun	relating to	->
-ico / -ica	noun	relating to	->
-ivo / -iva	verb/noun	tending to	->
-dor / -	verb	given to doing	->
- / - / -ense	place	origin, nationality	->

-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:

(fame) -> (famous, full of fame)
(danger) -> (dangerous)
(affection) -> (affectionate)
(wonder) -> (wonderful)
ansia (anxiety, longing) -> (anxious)

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

-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:

(to accept) -> (acceptable)
(to eat) -> comible (edible)
(to believe) -> (believable)
(to break) -> rompible (breakable)
(to recommend) -> recomendable (worth recommending)

As a rough rule, -ar verbs take -able and -er and - 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), becomes (incredible). A dish that is comible can be eaten; an excuse that is 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:

(to matter) -> (important)
(to surprise) -> (surprising)
(to interest) -> (interesting)
(to survive) -> (surviving, a survivor)

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

-al and -ar: relating to a noun

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

(culture) ->
(nation) -> (national)
(world) -> (world, worldwide)
(family) -> familiar (family, familiar)

is the World Cup, 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:

(economy) -> (economic)
(history) -> (historic, historical)
base (base) -> (basic)

Note the accent: , , . 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:

(to create) -> (creative)
(sport) -> (sporty, sporting)
agredir (to attack) -> (aggressive)

An tends to create; una 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:

(to speak) -> hablador (talkative)
(to work) -> (hard-working, a worker)
(to win) -> (winning, a winner)

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

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:

(France) -> / (French)
(Italy) -> / (Italian)
Canadá (Canada) -> (Canadian)

The - ending takes an accent in the masculine () that vanishes in the feminine (). The -ense form does not change for gender at all: actor , .

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 -, 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 - or -ente, the verb is doing the action. If it finishes in -, -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.

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.

Practise: test yourself

Fill in the blank

0/8

Form the adjective from the word in brackets using the right suffix. Watch the spelling and the accents.

fama -> (famous) (fama)
aceptar -> (acceptable) (aceptar)
cultura -> (cultural) (cultura)
economía -> (economic) (economía)
importar -> (important) (importar)
peligro -> (dangerous) (peligro)
crear -> (creative) (crear)
trabajar -> (diligent) (trabajar)

Pick the right one

0/6

Choose the correct adjective. The base word and the meaning point at the right suffix.

de historia (history) ->
de nación (nation) ->
que se puede comer (edible) ->
de deporte (sporty) ->
de Francia (French) ->
que sorprende (surprising) ->

Frequently asked questions

How does the Spanish suffix -oso differ from -able?

They attach to different parts of speech and mean different things. The suffix -oso goes on a noun and means 'full of' or 'characterised by' that noun: fama (fame) gives famoso (famous), cariño (affection) gives cariñoso (affectionate), maravilla (wonder) gives maravilloso (wonderful). The suffix -able (and its variant -ible) goes on a verb and means 'able to be done' or 'worth doing': aceptar gives aceptable, creer gives creíble (believable), recomendar gives recomendable (worth recommending). So -oso describes a thing packed with a quality, while -able describes a thing that something can be done to. Spot which base word sits underneath and the ending tells you the rest.

What does the Spanish suffix -able actually add to a verb?

It makes a passive adjective: 'able to be done' or 'worth doing'. Aceptar (to accept) gives aceptable (able to be accepted), romper (to break) gives rompible (breakable), and the negative prefix in- gives irrompible (unbreakable). The key point is the passive sense: an adjective in -able describes the thing the action is done to, not the thing that does it. Comida comible is food that can be eaten, an argumento creíble is an argument that can be believed. The spelling splits by conjugation, with -ar verbs usually taking -able and -er and -ir verbs usually taking -ible, but the meaning is the same either way.

Why do so many Spanish adjectives end in -ante or -ente?

Because they come from the present participle, the old 'doing' form of the verb, so they describe something that actively does the action. Importar (to matter) gives importante (important, mattering), sorprender (to surprise) gives sorprendente (surprising), interesar (to interest) gives interesante (interesting). The -ar verbs take -ante and the -er and -ir verbs take -ente or -iente, as in sobrevivir (to survive) giving superviviente (surviving, a survivor). This is the mirror image of -able: -ante and -ente adjectives describe the thing that does the action, while -able adjectives describe the thing the action is done to.

How can I tell what a Spanish adjective means from its suffix?

Strip the suffix and read the base word, then apply the ending's meaning. If it ends in -oso, the base is a noun and the adjective means full of it: peligroso is peligro (danger) plus 'full of'. If it ends in -al, -ar or -ico, the base is a noun and the adjective means relating to it: nacional is nación, histórico is historia. If it ends in -able or -ible, the base is a verb and the adjective means able to be done: recomendable is recomendar. If it ends in -dor, the base is a verb and means given to doing it: hablador is hablar (to speak), so talkative. The ending is a small dictionary you carry in your head.