Suffixes that Form Adjectives

Suffixes that Form Adjectives: A Complete Guide to -able, -ful, -less, -ous, -ic, -ive and More

Have you ever seen a word in English that you didn’t know, but still somehow understood?

For example:

• drinkable
• hopeless
• dangerous
• cloudy

Even if you’ve never studied these words, your brain probably guessed the meaning. Why?

Because English loves suffixes — small endings that change or refine a word’s meaning.

If you learn the most common adjective suffixes, you can understand hundreds of new words more easily, expand your vocabulary much faster and score better in Cambridge exams (B2 First, C1 Advanced), where word formation is everywhere.

In this guide, you will learn the most useful adjective suffixes in English, with clear meanings, patterns, and natural examples.

What is a suffix?

A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning or grammatical form.

For example:

• help → helpful
• care → careless
• use → useful / useless
• sun → sunny

Why these suffixes matter

They help you guess the meaning of new words, build word families, write more precisely and naturally and handle Use of English / word formation tasks with confidence.

Suffixes meaning “able to” or “tending to”

-able = can be done / can be used

• This water is drinkable.
• The weather is very changeable.
• Tickets are available online.

-ive = having a tendency / showing a quality

• She’s very talkative and active.
• He gave me a very supportive answer.
• The child is extremely sensitive.

-some = causing or showing a strong feeling

• It was a tiresome journey.
• That’s an awesome idea.
• He felt lonesome after moving away.

Suffix meaning “without”

-less = without / lacking

• Don’t be careless.
• It’s hopeless to argue with him.
• They waited in an endless queue.

Suffixes meaning “full of” or “having”

-ful = full of / having

• Be careful with that glass.
• She gave me a helpful suggestion.
• They reached a peaceful agreement.

-ous = full of / having a lot of

• The town is famous for its food.
• That was a dangerous mistake.
• He’s very generous with his time.

-y = having the quality of

• It was a sunny day.
• Tell me a funny story.
• The roads are icy this morning.

Suffixes meaning “relating to”

-al = relating to

• personal, political, seasonal, cultural
• She gave a very emotional speech.
• This is a national holiday.

-ic = relating to / having the nature of

• historic, economic, dramatic, chaotic
• The traffic was chaotic this morning.
• He has a very artistic mind.

Suffix -ing (describing feelings & effects)

-ing = causing a feeling or effect

• It was a very exciting trip.
• That’s a confusing rule.
• He had a tiring day.

Compare:

bored – how you feel

boring – what causes the feeling

Cambridge exams love word formation:

success → successful → unsuccessfully → unsuccessfulness

If you know suffixes, you build words faster, make fewer mistakes and understand texts more easily.

Suffixes_that_Form_Adjectives_PDF_Exercises

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