Italian Word Formation

Italian word formation is a common topic of high-intermediate and advanced Italian CEFR exams.

In word formation, given a simple word, also known as a root word, you get another word by adding suffixes, prefixes, or another word altogether. This process also exists in English. Consider the following:

Caldo, calore, scaldare
Hot, heat, to heat

Amico, amicizia, amichevole
Friend, friendship, friendly

This lesson is quite long. Use the table of contents below to navigate through its contents.

Italian word formation

Let’s talk about word types

First, you must know that there are three types of words in Italian:

• parole semplici, simple words
• parole derivate, derived words
• parole composte, compound words

Simple words are words that do not come from another Italian word. These are also called root words. Examples of root words are bello or alto.

Simple words don’t like to feel lonely. That’s why they have families, famiglie. A “word family”, a famiglia di parole, is made up of all possible derived and compound words of that given root word.

A word family is like a spiderweb. The little spider at its center is the root word. Then the web branches out: these are the derived and compound words.

For example, for the adjective bello, “nice, beautiful”, I can think of these other words:

• bellezza, beauty
• bellissimo, very beautiful
• belloccio, beautiful guy
• abbellire, to embellish
• abbellimento, embellishment
• … and more!

Part of the “spiderweb” for bello could look like this…

Now, root words are heavily used to create derived words. This is done with the help of prefixes and suffixes. See how in the next section.

Derived words

Derived words are formed from another word + a prefix/suffix. Examples of derived words are:

• pizzeria (pizza + suffix -ria)
• sporcizia (sporco + suffix -izia)
• rifare (prefix ri- + fare)
• giornalista (giornale + suffix -lista, note that giornale is made up of giorno + suffix -ale)

The existence of longer derived words such as giornalista above means that you can derive words from another derived word. Some derived words can even have a prefix and a suffix, especially verbs.

Italian word formation with prefixes

A prefix is attached to the beginning of a word. The “pre” cluster in prefix is in itself a prefix, with the meaning of “before”. The Italian translation of “prefix” is prefisso.

Prefixes can be attached to nouns, verbs, and adjectives to form derived words. They don’t cause words to change category: nouns will remain nouns, verbs will remain verbs, and so on.

Let’s see the most common prefixes in Italian (I won’t add a few that are uncommon).

Italian word formation with suffixes

A suffix is attached to the end of a word.

Just like in English, what starts as a noun can become an adjective (friend > friendly). What starts as an adjective may become a noun (weak > weakness), etc. This depends on the suffix itself. For example, English words ending in -ness are nouns.

Suffixes can be attached to nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives to form derived words. Let’s see the most common suffixes in Italian (I won’t add a few that are uncommon).

In the table below, I added a fourth column:

• N means that the suffix creates a noun
• V means that the suffix creates a verb
• Av means that the suffix creates an adverb
• Aj means that the suffix creates an adjective

Italian word formation in science

Scientific words also feature suffixes that have a specific meaning.

Other suffixes

There are a few words that don’t seem to have suffixes at all. These are words that are derived from verbs and usually end in -o or -a, for example:

• calma (calm, peace)
• modifica (change, modification)
• sosta (pause, break)
• accordo (agreement)
• conteggio (tally, count)

There is yet another kind of suffix in Italian word formation that creates parole alterate, “altered words”. These suffixes, unlike the others we’ve seen, don’t change the meaning of the word. They describe it as smaller than usual, bigger than usual, nice, ugly, etc. These are descriptive suffixes.

For example, let’s take cane, dog. We can say:

• cane, dog
• cagnone, big dog
• cagnolino, small and cute dog
• cagnaccio, bad dog

Some common words can also feature two descriptive suffixes in a row: boccettina, from boccia + etta + ina.

Let’s see the most common descriptive suffixes (not all!) in the table below.

This is an advanced topic, but it’s worth knowing about nonetheless. Verbs can also use descriptive suffixes to change their shade of meaning. Here are some:

There is so much more to say about suffixes that describe nouns. Learn here how to use descriptive suffixes in Italian.

Compound words

Compound words are made up of at least two words. Examples of compound words are capostazione (capo + stazione), lavapiatti (lava + piatti), videochiamata (video + chiamata).

Some compound words are formed by two complete words, like the ones above. Their plural can be tough to learn.

Some other compound words, however, use prefixes or suffixes (these usually come from Latin or Greek), for example:

• biblioteca (biblio is not a complete word)
• televisione (tele is not a complete word)
• topicida (cida is not a complete word)

Prefixes in compound words

The following table lists the most common prefixes that are used in compound words.

Suffixes in compound words

The following table lists the most common suffixes that are used in compound words.

Dirty tricks and tips for Italian word formation

If you know a bit of Italian already, you may have noticed that many English words ending in -tion end in -zione in Italian:

• selezione (selection)
• educazione (education)
• illuminazione (illumination)

And many words ending in -ty in English end in -tà in Italian:

• libertà (liberty)
• maturità (maturity)
• povertà (poverty)

These words share their origin, so there are similarities between the two languages.

Other times, however, things are completely different: velocità, speed.

So in the following paragraphs, we will cover some “rules of thumb” you can apply in case you have no idea how to turn an Italian word into something else based on what you already know.

-er/or

Nouns ending in -er/or in English often end in -(t)ore/iere in Italian.

Some exceptions are:

• Umorismo (humor)
  Umore = mood
• Comportamento (behavior)

Also note that some words can change root. Worker = lavoratore, from lavoro, “work”.

Always consult a dictionary!

-tion

Nouns ending in -tion in English often end in -zione in Italian.

Some exceptions are:

• Durata (duration)
  NOT durazione
• Abominio (abomination)
  NOT abominazione
• Rapimento (abduction)
  Adduzione = adduction
• Asta (auction)
  Auzione is deprecated

-ty

Nouns ending in -(ili)ty in English often end in -(ili)tà in Italian.

Some exceptions are:

• Carie (tooth cavity)
  Cavità = hole, recess
• Sicurezza (safety)
  From sicuro, “safe”
• Ansia (anxiety)
  Ansietà exists but it’s not used
• Bellezza (beauty)
• Dovere (duty)
• Uguaglianza (equality)
  Equalità exists but it’s not used
• Modestia (modesty)
  NOT modestà

-nce

Nouns ending in -nce in English often end in -nza in Italian.

Some exceptions are:

• Difesa (defense)
  NOT defense/difenza
• Silenzio (silence)
  NOT silenza
• Pubblico (audience)
  Udienza = meeting, hearing

-ment

Nouns ending in -ment in English often end in -mento in Italian. Many words don’t share a root, however, and many others are completely different, so be careful.

Some exceptions are:

• Spedizione (shipment)
  NOT spedimento
• Meraviglia (amazement)
• Cantina, seminterrato (basement)
  Basamento = base, pedestal
• Abbandono (abandonment)
  Abbandonamento is deprecated
• Balsamo (ointment)
• Annuncio (announcement)
  NOT annunciamento
• Delusione (disappointment)
• Espulsione, esilio (banishment)
  NOT bannamento
• Accordo (agreement)
• Risultato, conquista (achievement)
• Impegno (commitment)
• Pubblicità (advertisement)
• Allegato (email attachment)
  Attaccamento = bond, emotional attachment

-able

Quite a few adjectives ending in -ble in English end in -bile in Italian. Many roots change.

Some exceptions are:

• Capace (capable)
  NOT capabile
• Incapace (incapable)
  NOT incapabile
• Prezioso (valuable)
  Valutabile = evaluable, assessable
• Rilevante, notevole (notable)
  Notabile is almost always used to translate “prominent, well-known”

-sion

Nouns ending in -sion in English often end in -sione in Italian.

Some exceptions are:

• Permesso (permission)
  NOT permissione, it exists but it’s not used
• Impulso, pulsione (compulsion)
  Compulsione, compulsività = compulsiveness
• Possesso (possession)
  NOT possessione, it exists but it’s not used

-ism

Nouns ending in -ism in English often end in -ismo in Italian.

An exception is:

• Battesimo (baptism)

-ist

Nouns ending in -ist in English often end in -ista in Italian.

Some exceptions are:

• Ateo (atheist)
  Ateista exists but it’s uncommon
• Biologo (biologist)
  NOT biologista, although it exists
• Sadico (sadist)
  NOT sadista
• Chimico (chemist)
• Botanico (botanist)
  Botanista exists but it’s uncommon

-ly

Adverbs that end in ly in English often end in -mente in Italian.

-al

Adjectives ending in -al in English often end in -ale in Italian.

Some exceptions are:

• Magico (magical)
  NOT magicale
• Medico (medical)
  NOT medicale
• Logico (logical)
  NOT logicale
• Identico (identical)
• Classico (classical)
  NOT classicale
• Emotivo (emotional, sensitive)
  Emozionale = “sth involving emotions”
• Immaginario, finto (fictional)

-ic

Adjectives ending in -ic(al) in English often end in -ico in Italian.

An exception is:

• Basilare (basic)
  Basico is used in chemistry

-an

Adjectives ending in -an in English often end in -ano/a in Italian.

Some exceptions are:

• Tedesco (German)
  Germano = ancient northern European
• Civile (civilian)
  NOT civiliano
• Barbaro (barbarian)
  NOT barbariano
• Anfibio (amphibian)
  NOT anfibiano
• Europeo (European)
  NOT europeano
• Musicista (musician)

-ous

Adjectives ending in -ous in English often end in -oso/a in Italian.

• Ridicolo (ridiculous)
  NOT ridicoloso, deprecated
• Tremendo (tremendous)
  NOT tremendoso
• Enorme (enormous)
  NOT enormoso
• Cauto (cautious)
  NOT cautoso
• Simultaneo (simultaneous)
  NOT simultaneoso

-ate

Adjectives ending in -ate in English often end in -ato/a in Italian.

Some exceptions are:

• Affettuoso (affectionate)
  Affezionato = emotionally attached
• Compassionevole (compassionate)
  NOT compassionato
• Cortese, premuroso (considerate)
  Considerato = considered, evaluated

-y

Weather adjectives ending in -y in English often end in -oso/a in Italian.

-ness and -ship

Nouns ending in -ness and -ship are tricky. In Italian, they usually end with a suffix that is used for abstract nouns, but no rule of thumb makes it easy for you to guess which one it is. Words rarely share a root. Examples:

-ary

Nouns ending in -ary often end in -ario in Italian.

-ive

Adjectives ending in -ive often end in -ivo in Italian.

-ect

Adjectives ending in -ect often end in -etto in Italian.

-cate

Verbs ending in -cate often end in -care in Italian.

-ize/ise/yze/yze

Verbs ending in -ize/ise/yze/yze often end in -izzare in Italian.

Italian word formation VS English word formation: A recap

As our lesson is getting quite long, let’s review the main tricks we have seen so far.

You can also download this list as a handy PDF cheatsheet.

More free Italian resources

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