Negative prefixes before adjectives

We can form the opposite of many adjectives or give the negative meaning by adding a negative prefix. (a prefix is a syllable that goes before a word) There is no fixed rule for adding one prefix or another, so students have to get familiar with these words in order to use them correctly. There are many negative prefixes, most of which come from the classical languages Latin and Greek. The only one that is originally English is un-. Things would be easier if words of English origin took the prefix un- and those of Latin origin took other prefixes, but unfortunately this is not so. Have a look at these examples: Happy ---> unhappy

Fair---> unfair Friendly ---> unfriendly

All these words come from Old English, but what about these... Important ---> unimportant

Pleasant ---> unpleasant Popular ---> unpopular Prepared---> unprepared

These words come from Latin, and yet they take un-, and there are so many words like these that you cannot say that they are the exception to the rule. In fact, they prove that there is no such rule! So, as I said at the beginning, the only thing a student can do is to get familiar with them and check a dictionary when in doubt, and if it is any consolation to you, even English speakers get them wrong sometimes! These are the most common negative prefixes used with adjectives: disdisrespectful dissatisfied ilillegitimate illogical imimpossible immature inindecent incapable irirrelevant irregular ununreasonable unfortunate

Other negative prefixes are: aamoral asexual antiantisocial anti-aircraft countrercounterproductive counterfeit malmalcontent malnourished nonnon-violent non-profit

The prefixes im- il- and ir- are in fact a variety of in-:

im- is used before words beginning with m or p: impersonal, immortal. il- is used before words beginning with l: illegal. ir- is used with words beginning with r: irregular.

Most compounds with non- are written with a hyphen in British English, but not in American English: nonalcoholic , nonalcoholic .

Negative prefixes with adjectives - Summary

We often use prefixes to give adjectives a negative meaning: un- The most common, can appear before any letter in- The next most common, appears mainly before the letters a,c,d,e,f,h,o,s,v il- Appears before some, but not all, adjectives beginning with l im- Appears before some, but not all, adjectives beginning with m, p ir- Appears before some, but not all, adjectives beginning with r dis- Appears before certain adjectives Unfortunately there are no exact rules as to when each one is used, you just have to learn which one is used with each adjective. This exercise should help you.

Other negative prefixes used with certain adjectives There are some other, less common, negative prefixes as well a- usually means without or lacking in amoral, anarchistic, anonymous, apathetic, apolitical, asexual, assymetric, atheist, atypical anti usually means against antisocial, anti-aircraft counter usually means against or opposite counterproductive, counterfeit, counter-intuitive, counterclockwise mal usually means badly malcontent, malnourished, maladjusted non usually means not non-political, non-refundable, non-returnable, non-violent, non-profit

Fill in negative prefixes to form the OPPOSITE of each of the adjectives below. Note - although the adjective satisfied has also another opposite, I want you to master the more frequent one so I did not include the other possibility.

acceptable, agreeable, compatible, convenient, discreet, approachable, complete, credible, excusable,

accurate, appropriate, conscious, decisive, experienced, faithful,

adequate, bearable, contented, desirable, flexible,

frequent, legal, mature, passive, probable, respectful, sufficient,

grateful, legible, moral, patient, readable, sane, variable,

healthy, legitimate, mortal, perfect, regular, satisfactory, visible,

helpful, literate, obedient, personal, resolute, satisfied, willing

hospitable, logical, organised, polite, responsible, sociable,

unacceptable, inaccurate, inadequate, disagreeable, unapproachable, inappropriate, unbearable, incompatible, i ncomplete, unconscious, discontented, inconvenient, incredible, indecisive, undesirable,indiscreet, inexcusable, i nexperienced, unfaithful, inflexible, infrequent, ungrateful, unhealthy, unhelpful, inhospitable, illegal, illegible, illeg itimate, illiterate, illogical, immature, immoral, immortal,disobedient, disorganised, impassive, impatient, imperfec t, impersonal, impolite, improbable, unreadable, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, disrespectful, insane, unsatisf actory, dissatisfied, unsociable,insufficient, invariable, invisible, unwilling