Words ending in "-il"

[laepelba]

Okay, Perikles - you know I LOVE that stuff! Thanks! (Are you able to just write all of that off the top of your head?)

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Okay, Perikles - you know I LOVE that stuff! Thanks! (Are you able to just write all of that off the top of your head?)

No - this time I looked it up. I have a weird Spanish etymological dictionary which is sometimes useful.

[laepelba]

I'll keep that in mind when asking questions here.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by Perikles

-il is an adjectival ending derived from Latin -ilis 'of, capable of': civil; fabril; juvenil; pueril; viril. I give these examples, because with an added -e they are almost the same in English.

Some nouns have the same ending, but perhaps they started off as adjectives. Has portátil become a noun in this computer age?

Interesting information, Perikles. Thank you.

As for "portátil", grammatically speaking, it still considered an adjective: "nevera portátil", "televisor portátil", in the old times "máquina de escribir portátil" (totally extinct) and, of course, "computador portátil". However, people shorten it by saying just "portátil". "Voy a usar el portátil".

In my country, the expression "equipo de sonido" (a CD player, etc) is called just "sonido" by many people. It sounds kind of weird but everybody understands it. This was to explain that people sometimes have the tendency to use fewer words, more in English than in Spanish.

[Perikles]

There are plenty of nouns in English which started off as adjectives. Of course, I can't think of many on the spot. But 'mobile' is clearly a noun, short for 'mobile telephone'; 'omnibus' is a noun but used to be an adjectival phrase ...............

[laepelba]

I don't think that I have ever heard someone born & raised in the United States (at least my parts of the US) use the word "mobile" alone to mean "mobile telephone". I would say "my cell" for "my cell phone", but not really "mobile".....

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I don't think that I have ever heard someone born & raised in the United States (at least my parts of the US) use the word "mobile" alone to mean "mobile telephone". I would say "my cell" for "my cell phone", but not really "mobile".....

Same here (New England). I associate "mobile" = mobile phone with people from Britain. To me, a "mobile" is a type of art piece, like the big one by Calder in the main hall of the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in DC.

[aleCcowaN]

adjectives:

mobile = móvil
futile = fútil
reptile (adj) = reptil (u.t.c.s.m.)
agile = ágil
vile = vil
habile = hábil
retractile = retráctil
prehensile = prensil
labile = lábil
docile = dócil
facile = some meanings of "fácil" / facilista
nubile = núbil

and maybe a one or two hundreds more adjectives.

[laepelba]

Fantastic - related to adjectives ending in "ile" in English. Thanks, everyone!! (Making connections.........)