Spanish Prefixes: des-, re-, in-, pre- (deshacer, imposible)

A prefix clips onto the front of a word and bends its meaning in a fixed direction. Learn the piece once and a family of words opens up:

• deshacer - to undo (from hacer, to do)
• imposible - impossible (from posible)

Spanish prefixes at a glance

The four that do most of the work. Look at the coloured piece, then the base it sits on.

The rest (anti-, sub-, super-, ex- and friends) are in the long tail further down. They are for recognising, not drilling.

des-: undo, reverse, opposite

Des- works like English un- or dis-. On a verb it undoes the action; on a noun or an adjective it gives the opposite.

In a sentence:

• Deshice la maleta. - I unpacked the suitcase.
• El gato desapareció. - The cat disappeared.

When you meet a new des- word, strip the des- off: the root underneath is usually a word you know. Breakfast is the famous one: desayunar is to break the fast, from ayunar, to fast.

re-: again, back

On a verb, re- means again or back, as in English.

• Van a reconstruir el puente. - They are going to rebuild the bridge.

In everyday speech, Spanish often says again with volver a plus an infinitive instead:

• Vuelvo a leer el libro. - I'm reading the book again.

Two cautions. Many old re- words are not built from anything you can strip off: recordar is to remember and recoger is to pick up. And in casual speech, above all in Argentina and Uruguay, re- also works as "really", with no repetition at all, often written as a separate word:

• Es re lindo. - It's really lovely. (Argentina, casual)
• Lo hiciste requetebién. - You did it really, really well. (casual, everywhere)

On a verb, read re- as again; on a casual adjective, read it as very.

in-, im-, i-, ir-: the spelling rule

In- means not, like English un- or in-. It changes its spelling to fit the first letter of the base, so the word is easier to say:

Before r the prefix is written ir-, so the r doubles: irresponsable, irregular. A single r between vowels would sound like the tapped r of pero.

The trap is m and n. In- stays in- before both, so the n is always written, even where English has a double m:

• Nadie es inmortal. - Nobody is immortal.
• Es innecesario. - It's unnecessary.

in- or des-?

Both mean not, and they split by the kind of word. In- goes on adjectives; des- goes on verbs and on many participles built from them:

Treat it as a default, not a law. Adjectives in -ble take in- even when a verb sits underneath: increíble (unbelievable, from creer). Some participles do too: inesperado (unexpected, from esperar). And a few plain adjectives take des-: deshonesto (dishonest), desigual (unequal), descontento (discontented). When in doubt, look the word up.

pre-: before

Pre- means before, in time or order, as in English.

A prefixed verb conjugates like its base. Prever goes like ver, predecir mostly like decir:

• No preveo problemas. - I don't foresee any problems.
• Nadie predijo la crisis. - Nobody predicted the crisis.

The long tail: anti-, sub-, super- and more

These turn up constantly. You do not need to drill them, only to recognise the piece and guess the rest.

Place and size

People, stance and degree

• El expresidente vive en el campo. - The former president lives in the country.
• Fue un malentendido. - It was a misunderstanding.

Ex- joins a one-word base with no space and no hyphen: exnovio, ex-boyfriend. It is written apart only before a phrase of several words: ex primer ministro, former prime minister.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Strip the prefix off every new long word you meet and find the base.
2. Do the word-build and sort drills below.
3. Then noun suffixes, the other end of the word.