Learn Italian prefixes (IN - IRR - ILL - IM...) and create opposite words!

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A prefix is a little particle that is placed before a word. It’s very important because by changing this little part you can change the meaning of a word very often you will use prefixes to create words that have the opposite meaning.

In this video lesson I will teach you the most common ones and I will give you some words that you can immediately learn and use!

As you know very often we have specific opposite words that are completely different from the main word. We can have adjectives like 

• alto - basso (tall - short)
• giovane - vecchio (young - old)
• bello - brutto (beautiful - ugly)
• salire - scendere (to go up - to go down)
• aprire - chiudere (to open - to close)

In this case you would not need prefixes because you have specific words as opposites. In order cases you can use the little NON particle to talk about the opposite:

• interessante - non interessante
• è alto - non è alto

sometimes you do not have specific opposite words or you cannot simply use NON. 

In this case you can use a prefix. 

Please remember that I’m talking about OPPOSITES here. So these prefixes will be used only when you can to talk about an opposite word compared to the main word.

Let’s focus on the most common opposite prefix which is IN

Here is a list of main words that can use this prefix to create an opposite. There are many more… this is just a sample! 

Write extra ones in the comments if you want! 

• volontario - involontario (voluntary - involuntary)
• sicuro - insicuro (safe - unsafe)
• finito - infinito (finished - infinite)
• soddisfatto - insoddisfatto (satisfied - unsatisfied)
• utile - inutile (useful - useless)
• accettabile - inaccettabile (acceptable - unacceptable)
• naturale - innaturale (natural - unnatural)
• visibile - invisibile (visible - invisible)
• affidabile - inaffidabile (reliable - unreliable)
• esperto - inesperto (experienced - inexperienced)
• difeso - indifeso (defended - defenseless)

be careful here because this little prefix can change depending on the letter of the main word. 

If the main word begins with a P like possibile, preciso, perfetto or M like mobile, maturo

IN will become IM, the opposites will be

• impossibile
• impreciso
• imperfetto
• immobile
• immaturo

if the main word will begin with L or R this IN will become ILL or IRR so you will double up the first letter and eliminate the N

• logico - illogico
• regolare - irregolare

to make these yours try to use them in a sentence!

I will make some myself and I encourage you to do the same! Write them in the comments and I will help you !

• C’è tanta nebbia oggi, la strada è quasi invisible!
• Oggi è il primo giorno di lavoro di Gianni, è ancora inesperto!
• Il gatto ha paura del cane, è immobile sul ramo dell’albero.
• La strada per andare in montagna era molto brutta! Il terreno era irregolare e pieno di buche.
• Faccio fatica a capire il tuo ragionamento… mi sembra illogico! 

There are also other prefixes that can be used to make opposites, but they are a little less common.

They are

• A
• DIS
•  S

Here are some common words that you can learn with this prefix just pop the prefix before the main word and the meaning changes to its opposite:

• normale - anormale (normal - anormal)
• sociale - asociale (social - antisocial)
• simmetrico - asimmetrico (symmetrical -asymmetrical)
• informato - disinformato (informed - uninformed)
• onore - disonore (honor - dishonor)
• abilità - disabilità (ability - disability)
• fiducia - sfiducia (trust - mistrust)
• fiorire - sfiorire (to flourish - to wilt / fade away) 
• gonfiare - sgonfiare (to blow up - to deflate)

Download for free the entire lesson in PDF!