Spanish counterparts of "Dis" and "Un"y "Sobre" and Adjectives.
Connect - Disconnect. Able - Unable . IS there a Spanish counter part for "Dis' and "Un"
I also see "sobre" being used a lot along with many words like Sobrecoger ( to frighten ) or Sobrevivir ( to survive ) . How do you use these Affixes and PRefixes in Spanish and please tell me if I'm leaving any of them out. I know "mente" converts to "ly" in english . Rapidamente - Rapidly . and "dad" converts to "ty" like Universidad - University y Superioridad - superiority y Cantidad - Quantity.
Also , I wanted to know how to convert adjectives into a manner of doing something. like bad - mal .
So is Malamente - badly? o
Buenomente - Well ( he did it well ) .
Stupid- Tonto . Stupidly - Tontamente?
Gracias.
7 Answers
So is Malamente - badly? o
Buenomente - Well ( he did it well ) .
Stupid- Tonto . Stupidly - Tontamente?
It might help to recognize that the word "mal" can be used as either an adjective (mal/malos/mala/malas) or as an adverb (mal), it would not be necessary to add a suffix to change the meaning from "bad" to "badly."
Le queda mal ese color - That color looks bad on her [adjective]
**¡Qué mal servicio! - what bad service [adjective]
salió mal la entrevista/el examen - The test/interview went badly [adverb]
As for "buenomente," again this would be unnecessary as there already exists the adverb "bien."
As far as the word "tontamente" is concerned, it might help to recognize that in Spanish, it is often much more common to use a suitable prepositional phrase (rather than adding -mente to the adjective). For example: De (una) manera tonta/de (un) modo tonto.
Connect - Disconnect. Able - Unable . IS there a Spanish counter part for "Dis' and "Un"
Regarding the prefix "dis-"
Both the English prefix "dis-" and the Spanish prefix "des-" come from the same Latin root (dis) and have nearly identical meanings and usages. According to the Pequeño Larousse the definition for "des-" is: Que denota negación, oposición o privación.
This definition is nearly identical to the way in which Websters New World describes the English variant, "dis-."
Regarding the prefix "un-"
The simple answer to your question would be to say that the for the case of "able" → "unable" the corresponding Spanish prefix would be "in-" for example:
capaz → incapaz
hábil → inhábil
However, this would overlook the fact that this prefix for suppression/negation changes depending on the letter that follows it (in both English and Spanish).
For example:
aceptable → inaceptable
legal → ilegal
regular → irregular
pagado → impagado
In Spanish, the rule is as follows (according to the Pequeno Larousse)
• Use im- in front of words beginning with the letter b or p
• Use i- in front of words beginning with the letter l or y
• Use ir- in front of words beginning with the letter r
• Use in- in all other cases
I hope that this was useful
I also see "sobre" being used a lot along with many words like Sobrecoger ( to frighten ) or Sobrevivir ( to survive ).
In the case of this prefix, it carries a very similar meaning to the idea expressed by the word "sobre," but there will not always exist a one-to-one translation to English.
For example:
Sobrecoger can literally be translated to overtake, and carries with it the connotation of surprise so that it can be interpreted to mean "to overtake someone (by surprise)," "to take someone by surprise" or "to startle/frighten someone (by coming upon them unawares)."
For sobrevivir, you might say that it could mean to "overlive" somebody in the sense that you continue living above and beyond the time that another person has or made it past (or above a certain situation). This does not lend itself to a direct one-to-one translation to English, but can be translated to mean outlive (if in reference to another person) or survive (in reference to a situation).
For example:
I have outlived my dog → I have lived on past (above) the time that my dog has lived.
I have survived cancer → I have lived on past (came out on top/above) cancer.
and "dad" converts to "ty" like Universidad - University y Superioridad - superiority y Cantidad - Quantity.
You might want to realize that the suffix "-dad" does not necessarily always guarantee a "-ty" translation every time. What this suffix actually does is nominalize (forms the noun from) the root while emphasizing its quality or essence, so that words ending in "-dad" are often translated to English with either the "-ness" or "-hood" suffix or with no suffix at all:
| mal → maldad | wicked/evil/bad → wickedness/evil/badness |
| buen → bondad | good → goodness |
| falso → falsedad | false → falseness/falsehood |
| - | - |
Is there a thread for this where i can see and memorize them?
Just as in English, Spanish has quite a few prefixes and suffixes passed down from Greek and Latin. Any good Spanish-Spanish dictionary will have an entry for these under the terms "sufijos" and "prefijos"
To list them all would probably take a few pages at least. As far as I know, there is no reference article on this. However, here are a couple of links that you might find helpful (although none of these links represents a comprehensive list):
sufijos para formar sustantivos
[formación de las palabras: sufijos][2]
prefijos y sufijos de origenes latino y griego
To find a more comprehensive list(s) you might try doing a search of the internet using search terms like "sufijos para formar sustantivos," "sustantivos y prefijos" or something similar. Alternatively, you might try making a suffix list of words that you currently know/are familiar with and then using these suffixes as search terms. In any event, I hope this helped and wish you the best of luck.
[2]: http://acebo.pntic.mec.es/~aromer3/Lengua/Lengua de ESO/como_esc/Compl. gramaticales/c_sufijos.html
Good question. I believe "idad" would be the ending for the English "ty", though. (Not just "dad".)
I do know that when you add "mente" to a word, the word must be in the feminine form. So, (if it is a word) it would be buenamente, not buenomente. I think you would just use "bien", though. "Goodly" is not used very often in English and certainly not in the context of "well".
Para que "Sobre" y por cuales situaciones se puede usar "des" como - Disinfectar, pero es no posible usar "des" para decir Despoder(Unable) , Descansar ( Divorce ) .
