How do the des and re prefixes work?

Question

I'm unclear about the re and des prefixes in Spanish. In English they generally mean the opposite action, but Spanish appears to be different. Examples

echar desechar

and

tornar retornar

What are the differences in their meaning/usage? In general what do the des and re prefixes indicate?

G'day Grant , here is a vote for filling out your profile.Great question also. - ray76, Jun 27, 2016

Answer 1

The way I learned it, re is an intensifier, that can include repeating, but does not have to-

eg llenar- fill, rellenar- stuff full. Volver and revolver, etc.

Des I learned as something that undoes or diminishes it- plegare fold, desplegar- unfold- pedir- ask for- despepir- say goodbye/fire.

Not sure of why echar goes to desechar - never thought about that- sometimes echar means to add something into something, as opposed to tossing it out- but sometimes it is pretty similar to desechar.

Here are two nice links, the second has a lot of prefixes.

http://www.businessspanish.com/LECCION/prefixes.htm

1. The prefixes des- and in- are used to indicate the opposite meaning to the word that they modify. Examples include hacer/deshacer, vestir/desvestir

2. The prefix re- is used to emphasize or increase the meaning of the word that it modifies. If re- is added to a verb, it means to repeat the same action. Furthermore, if re- modifies an adjective, it means very.

http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishvocabulary/a/spanishprefixes.htm

des- (undo, diminish): desplegar (to unfold), desdecirse (to go back on one's word), descubrir (to discover or uncover)

re- (again, with intensity): repaso (review), renacer (to be reborn), renegar (to strongly deny)

Terrific answer mate, thank you . - ray76, Jun 27, 2016