Opposite adjectives
Learning a foreign language is great!
It can also be fun, rewarding, and exciting.
Some other times you might think it’s exhausting, challenging, and overwhelming.
In any case, the words we used above are adjectives. We use adjectives to describe a person, a thing, an idea, a place, an animal, etc.
In this post, we’re going to focus on those opposite adjectives that can be formed by just adding a letter (or two, or even three) in front of the adjective that means the exact opposite.
Just think of the words happy and unhappy or believable and unbelievable.
Now try to think of other adjectives in English that behave like this. You’ll probably find lots!
Here’s a list of the most common prefixes (those letters placed at the beginning of a word) in Italian:
- in-
- dis-
- s-
- a-
We don’t want to overwhelm you, so we’ll give you the most common groups of opposite adjectives where the “negative” adjectives start with the prefixes mentioned above.
Ideally, you should take notes about the new adjectives, write them down, and practice, repeat, and review them. This will help you memorize and remember them.
Adjectives starting with in-
The prefix in- is the most common one.
Here’s a list of the most common groups of opposite adjectives where the “negative” adjective starts with in-:
capace/incapace
capable/incapable
certo/incerto
certain/uncertain
credibile/incredibile
credible/incredible
felice/infelice
happy/unhappy
utile/inutile
useful/useless
The “n” in in- becomes an m when the adjectives start with a “p” or an “m”. This means the prefix becomes im-.
Have a look at the groups of words below:
mobile/immobile
mobile/immobile
morale/immorale
moral/immoral
possibile/impossibile
possible/impossible
preparato/impreparato
prepared/unprepared
Adjectives starting with dis-
Here’s a list of the most common groups of opposite adjectives where the “negative” adjective starts with dis-:
abitato/disabitato
inhabited/uninhabited
attento/disattento
attentive/inattentive
onesto/disonesto
honest/dishonest
informato/disinformato
informed/uninformed
ordinato/disordinato
tidy/untidy
Adjectives starting with s-
The prefix s- is not very common, so again, we’ll give you the most common “negative” adjectives starting with s-.
carico/scarico
charged/out of battery or power
cortese/scortese
kind/unkind
gradevole/sgradevole
pleasant/unpleasant
contento/scontento
pleased/displeased
Adjectives starting with a-
The prefix a- is the least common, so we’ll just give you three groups of adjectives:
normale/anormale
normal/abnormal
sociale/asocial
sociable/unsociable
tipico/atipico
typical/atypical
Practice with Quizlet
Here's a set of flashcards and quizzes to practice this grammar topic.Opposite adjectives: examples
Since we’ve already given you many new words, we’ll just give you a few examples with some of the “negative” adjectives we mentioned above.
Questo posto è incredibile!
This place is incredible!
Mi sento un po’ inutile perché non sto facendo niente.
I feel a bit useless because I’m not doing anything.
Mattia è davvero disordinato ed è pure disonesto.
Mattia is really untidy and he’s even dishonest.
Il mio cellulare è scarico.
My mobile phone is out of battery.
Quella persona è un po’ sgradevole.
That person is unpleasant.
Mia sorella è un po’ asociale.
My sister is a bit unsociable.
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