Japanese Prefix and Suffix

Last time, you learned how the generic nouns: もの and こと work, e.g. “ケイスケのことをよく知しっています (I know about Keisuke a lot).” You might consider のこと as a kind of a suffix. That is to say, by attaching のこと to nouns, you can express additional meanings. In this lesson, you will learn more about prefixes and suffixes.

Explanation for How Japanese Prefixes and Suffixes Work

The difference between prefixes and suffixes are their positions, i.e. if you place something before words, it’s called a “prefix” and if you place it after words, it’s called a “suffix.” The functions can be divided into two groups. The first is to change (or add) meanings and the second is to change parts of speech, e.g. from nouns to adjectives. That sounds useful, doesn’t it? Let’s learn how they work one by one. Note: we cannot pick up every prefix and suffix here. Please learn them by yourself after grasping the basic concept.

Change (or Add) Meanings

The usage is relatively easy. If there is kanji, you can figure out meanings by utilizing the characteristic kanji has. You cannot connect prefixes or suffixes with all words. You need to memorize combinations depending on the context.

未み… Undone

無む… Zero

反はん… Anti

不ふ… / 非ひ… Negative

The above examples are closer to vocabulary rather than grammar. We think that you can use them without a specific explanation. …達たち, …ども, …方がた and …ら: Plurality

私わたし達たち: we (neutral)
私わたしら: we (casual)
私わたしども: we (humble)
あなた方がた: you (honorific)

Four of them are used with nouns which indicate people and indicate plurality. The point here is that ども can make people’s position low, that is to say, you can even use ども to insult people like “政せい治じ家かどもが全然ぜんぜん仕し事ごとをしない (the f—king politicians don’t work at all).” By contrast, 方がた can make people’s position high. Thus, it will sound weird if you use 方がた to those who belong to your community like 子こ供ども方がた. It should be 子こ供ども達たち.

…料りょう, …費ひ, …賃ちん and …代だい: Money Related Suffixes

English has several words which indicate money, e.g. fare, fee, and expense. Japanese also has several. Unfortunately, they are not completely equivalent. 費 is close to “expense” and “cost” and used with nouns which indicate activities and facilities. 料 is close to “fee” and used with nouns which indicate services. 賃 has a narrow usage and is used with transportation service or in a set phrase like “家賃: rent fee”. By contrast, 代 has a wide usage and is used with nouns which indicate activities, facilities, services, and transportation. 代 can sometimes be replaced with 料 and 賃.

…中ちゅう, …時じ, and …代だい: Time-Related Suffixes

中 has three functions. The first is to indicate deadline like “by” and “within.” The second is to indicate “periods of ongoing actions.” 仕事中 and 仕事をしている間 have the almost same meaning. The third is to work as a temporal adverb which indicates “throughout.” 一日中 and 一日を通じて have the almost same meaning. 時 is used with nouns which indicate actions or states, and works like “通勤する時.” 代 indicates generations and is generally used with years and ages.

Change Parts of Speech

In general, only suffixes have the function to change parts of speech. This usage is a little more difficult than the first one because some of them require conjugation.

…的てき and …らしい: From Nouns to Adjectives

…的 changes nouns to na-adjectives. It can be also used in the state-of-being style or as an adverb. You can roughly consider 的 as the counterpart to “-like” in English. For example, “禅: zen” is a noun and can be an adjective like this “禅的な: zen-like.” Note: 禅 is a religious word in Japanese and used in a different way from zen in English. This example is just for the sake of the explanation.

…らしい changes nouns to i-adjectives and indicates their typical characteristics. You may consider “like” is the counterpart in English. With the third example above, we have further conjugated it into an adverb, i.e. らしい => らしく.

…がる: From Adjectives to Verbs

…がる changes adjectives of emotions to verbs. The conjugation is to replace the last い of i-adjectives with がる and to attach がる to na-adjectives instead of な. As you learned, you cannot use adjectives of emotions with other people because you cannot exactly know how they feel. …がる is the suffix that allows you to do so. When you describe ongoing states, you need to use the te-form + いる. When you describe constant states like the third and fourth examples, you use the plain form.

…さ: Adjectives to Nouns

優やさしさ: kindness
丈じょう夫ぶさ: robustness
広ひろさ: largeness, area
高たかさ: highn ess, height

…さ is the counterpart to “-ness” in English and changes adjectives to nouns. The conjugation is to replace the last い of i-adjectives with さ and to attach さ to na-adjectives instead of な. After changing, some of them will have a new meaning (*the third and fourth examples). Although you can connect most of the i-adjectives with さ, some of the na-adjectives cannot be connected. For example, you cannot use na-adjectives which end with 的.

…方かた and …よう: Verbs to Nouns

考かんがえ方かた: way of thinking
考かんがえよう: way of thinking (manner)
食たべ方< rt>かた: way of eating
食たべよう: way of eating (manner)
寿司すしの食たべ方かた: way of eating Sushi
駅えきへの行いき方かた: way of going to the station

You can change verbs into nouns by attaching 方かた or よう to the polite form instead of です. 方かた comes from the word “方法ほうほう: way” while よう comes from the word “様よう子す: manner.” Therefore, both of them can indicate “way of doing.” Verbs with objects can also become nouns. In that case, the particle の or a combined particle will have an important role. Be careful, however, よう cannot be used in the context which indicates procedures or methods.

…上じょう: Nouns to Adverbs

事じ実じつ上じょう: virtually
計算けいさん上じょう: computationally
職 業しょくぎょう上じょう: from one’s professional point of view
教きょう育いく上じょう: from an educational point of view

…上 is generally used with words which have their origins in Chinese and change nouns to adverb. Some of them have the counterpart in English like the first and second example above. If there is no counterparts, you can consider …上 indicates something like “from Noun’s point of view” or “as a Noun.”

…っぽい: Tendency

This is an exception. っぽい can connect with verbs, nouns, na-adjectives, and i-adjectives. The conjugation is to attach っぽい to the plain form of verbs instead of ます, to just attach っぽい to nouns, to attach っぽい to na-adjectives instead of な, and to replace the last い of i-adjectives with っぽい. After the conjugations, it will work as an i-adjective.

Regarding the function, when you connect っぽい with verbs which indicate change of states, it means that you tend to get the states (*the first example). When you connect っぽい with nouns or adjectives, it means that you are close to the states that nouns or adjectives indicate. For example, 子供っぽい means you are like a child (but not a child). In English “like” is a very strong word. By saying “like a child,” you can express both “子供らしい: one who has typical characteristics of children” and “子供っぽい: one who is childish or childlike.” In Japanese, 子供らしい and 子供っぽい are different. You can use 子供らしい with children, i.e. children themselves can have the typical characteristic. However, you cannot use 子供っぽい with children, i.e. you must be just close to the state of children.

っぽい has another function, which indicate judgments based on situations just like ようだ and みたいだ. Of the three, っぽい sounds casual the most.

Summary

1. The general functions are to change meanings and to change parts of speech.
2. You cannot connect prefixes and suffixes with all words.
3. Some suffixes require conjugation.

There are a lot of prefixes and suffixes which we don't introduce here. We think that prefixes are simple enough, but suffixes may confuse you if you try to learn their usages by yourself. If that is the case, memorize the summary first. Any suffix can be divided into the two groups. After understanding which type suffixes work as, you can figure out the usage by checking combinations and conjugations. Next, you will learn advanced sentence ending particles.