Prefixes and Suffixes - English Lesson

In today's English class I'll teach you about prefixes

and suffixes, how they work and what they all mean.

So a prefix is something that goes before a word.

For example, “UNnecessary”. UN- is a prefix.

Suffixes are things that go after words.

Aly how can I say to my girlfriend, “You're really easy to love!”

Something cute.

Great question and this is a good example.

When you want to say something is POSSIBLE

to DO, use this suffix:

This means it's possible.

So any verb +ABLE

It’s POSSIBLE to DO this thing.

It's very cute.

“I can love you.” That doesn't sound romantic.

Trust me.

This sounds very cute in English.

British people have many problems.

Yeah.

if someone asks me.

Can we meet at 2 p.m. today?

I say.

Yeah, two is doable.

I can do 2:00.

this is a very useful suffix.

And this is a very useful word to quickly say.

Yeah, I can do that or we can do that or this is possible.

This is doable.

Oh, THIS COFFEE!

Fred, you’re Italian! Taste this, mate. It's bad, right?

I'm literally Japanese.

I can't drink that

It is not drinkable.

talking about the ability to drink something.

So drinkABLE

But we want to say NOT + CAN + DRINK

not can drink.

And he teaches English?

This coffee is undrinkable.

You can not drink it.

Totally undrinkable.

Fred.

Your Italian ancestors would cry.

なんでやねん!!!

I don't like this guy on YouTube.

He is unwatchable.

A good example.

Who is unwatchable on YouTube?

This one.

I can't listen to this music.

This music is unlistenable.

Okay, there are exceptions to this.

We can't use these with every verb.

Some things like this.

We should say this, but we don't.

This music is unlistenable.

We don't say it.

We should, but we don't.

So what should I say in English for “I can't listen to this music.”

Simply:

I can't listen to this music.

Just that?

Yeah.

Oh, whoa.

My girlfriend just broke up with me.

Oh, no

Why?

She says I'm unlovable.

You can't love me?

No. This Scotch egg is very bad.

It's uneatable.

Your food is bad. And you should feel bad.

Okay. Another exception is this one.

You can say it's uneatable.

It's not possible to eat, but it's more common to say.

Inedible.

And it means the same thing.

This one is just more common

Why?

Just.. because ...English

I have a question.

Yes?

What's the difference between the prefixes UN- and DIS-?

Are they the same?

Great question. And no.

so UN- means not, but more like not complete.

DIS- also means not.

But this is a negation.

You're saying no, the the opposite of this.

give me an example.

Okay, so we went to the pub yesterday right?

yeah.

And you wanted an orange juice.

But they didn't have orange juice.

No

- So were you satisfied? - No.

So he will say I'm UNsatisfied.

The UN, meaning the satisfaction is not completed.

- Yes, I was unsatisfied - Exactly.

But they also said.

That you have a stupid face.

Yes, guys they said had a stupid face.

They did the opposite of satisfied me.

They made me sad.

We want to say the opposite of satisfaction happened.

We are negating the satisfaction.

I'm dissatisfied.

I was dissatisfied, got it?

Okay.

My girlfriend says I was disloyal.

It should be unloyal, right?

Okay.

Well Google says they're both pretty much the same thing.

However, if you really want to analyse this, and you do! “UNloyal”

Yeah. Not complete.

But also it talks about the absence of a thing in this case absence of loyalty.

So if one is un loyal maybe they are just saying

I will not commit to anyone or anything.

I'm unloyal.

I have no loyalty.

But remember, if you are disloyal,

that sounds like you broke the loyalty.

- So what did you do? - Nothing.

you did something.

What about the prefix MIS-?

Is there a difference between the prefixes MIS- and DIS-?

great question.

Let's analyse all of them.

They all mean not.

But UN is more neutral.

Maybe it doesn't exist.

Or maybe something is not complete. Think.

Unfinished. It's not complete.

DIS- talks about the negation, the opposite of something.

DISorganised is the opposite of organised.

It's messy.

Things everywhere.

MIS- think of it like a MIStake.

for example, if you MISunderstand someone,

you didn't understand them in the correct way.

You made a mistake trying to understand.

WOW guys, apparently the Pope just died.

He did?!

Yeah, yeah, he passed a peaceful night.

Let me see that.

Oh no.

This headline is just written very badly.

He didn't die.

He just slept peacefully.

So imagine you saw a headline but you didn't understand

everything correctly.

And you post it on social media as information.

If your information that you post has mistakes, then it's.

Misinformation? Why?

Because your information has mistakes.

Okay.

But now you know that he's not dead.

Imagine you know

the information is wrong, but you still post it.

Now, which one is it?

Oh, so it's DISinformation

because it's doing the opposite of giving information.

On purpose.

Giving the wrong information.

Wow. I finally understand English.

Well, no, let me break your hearts a little bit more today

because there's more.

UN can also mean to reverse an action.

On Instagram, for example, if someone tags

you in a photo but you don't like that photo,

you can ask them to reverse that action by.

Oh UNtag I get it now. It's like undo.

Fred, what's wrong?

You broke my heart, Lisa!

I want you to unbreak it.

You're tearing me apart, Lisa!

Oh hi Mark

Unfortunately, you failed the IELTS

Why?

You only got a 4.0 in reading.

It's because you didn't understand the vocabulary and the questions.

I should have prepared properly by buying Aly’s IELTS vocabulary and Reading eBook!

You should have got Aly’s IELTS vocabulary and reading e-book!

I told you now you have to take the IELTS again.

I have to take the IELTS test again!?

A very useful prefix when you want to say

repeat something, do it again. Add.

RE- before the verb.

In this case.

I have to retake the IELTS test.

well, not if you prepare with my IELTS vocabulary and Reading eBook!

You can practice this right now

in the comments or just say it out loud.

Which movie do you think is the most...

Rewatchable?

You know what this means.

You can watch the thing again and again and again.

For me, Toy Story is very rewatchable.

I can watch that like five times and not get bored.

Titanic.

Oh Ivan, you.

Everybody dies.

In the movie or in life?

Okay, you let me know in the comments.

Which movie do you think is the most rewatchable?

I'm looking for recommendations.

Is the IELTS hard?

It's hard-ish.

What’s “ish”?

This is a great suffix “ish”

What does it mean?

This softens an adjective.

It's hard, but not crazy hard.

It's hard ish.

It adds this.

Only for adjectives.

Not just for adjectives. Also for times.

remember this example.

If they asked me can we meet at two.

And I say yeah two is doable.

I can do 2:00.

But I want to say an inexact time. A not exact time.

I'll say I'll be there at 2ish.

ish with a time means not exactly this time,

maybe a bit before, maybe a bit after 2ish.

And if you add ish to the end of a noun.

You're saying this is similar to this thing.

For example,

this tastes banana-ish.

Similar to a banana. Again.

This ish.

It's not an academic suffix.

Don't use this in your IELTS writing or any formal writing.

This is a more casual suffix.

if you wanted to talk about a band that sounds like another band.

Like Doechii is very...

Tyler, the creator ish.

No! She's unique!

You can't replace her.

She's unreplaceable!

Yeah.

It's IRreplaceable. Not UNreplaceable.

I actually hate you. Okay.

When do we use the prefixes IN- IM- and IR-?

It's actually very easy.

Use IM- with words that begin with p m b.

Impolite.

Immature. Imbalanced.

Impossible.

IN- Use it for most other consonants and vowels.

Like.

Indecision.

Inaccurate and active.

And IR- for words that begin with R

Irreplaceable.

Irregardless

WAIT! INsecure and UNsecure.

I think I got it.

All right. So insecure. Right?

No, I thought I had it.

Sorry, guys. What's the difference?

Insecure says that you are not confident about yourself.

For example.

if you look in the mirror and you're like, I'm so ugly,

you feel very not confident about yourself, you feel insecure.

But don't be because you're beautiful and amazing.

Unsecure is completely different.

Unsecure means. It's not safe.

For example, if your password is one, two, three, four,

please change it because it's UNsecure!

Okay. I want to send Lisa a message.

Can you just check that my grammar’s okay?

So I've got this. Lisa.

Babe, I can't forget you.

You're unforgettable.

You're irreplaceable.

And I feel insecure without you.

It sounds desperate. But yeah.

Are we done?

Are we. Is this we finished?

Are they?

Nah. One minute left. Ish.

So the word prefix means before a word right?

So when you see pre before a word,

it means before for example.

like buying pre-owned clothes.

Yes exactly.

Pre owned.

Someone owned it before you.

Always chance someone died while wearing it.

Why are you like this? Okay.

And then post means after something happened for example.

a question.

Like, why do all guys love post-apocalyptic movies?

Like movies that take place after an apocalypse?

Becky, how long have you been there?

I've been sitting here the whole time.

Really?

So try using all of these prefixes and suffixes

in the longest comment possible in the comments.

Also, don't be like Fred and actually prepare for your IELTS.

If it's coming up,

you can get it at papateachme.com or that link just below this video.

And let me know what you want to see in the next class. Bye!