Words ending in "-il"

[laepelba]

Are they adjectives?

I am reading an article that has the following sentence: Juan tiene un problema ratonil. My online Spanish-English dictionary doesn't have the word ratonil. But the RAE says "ratonero". It all makes sense in context, but I don't know that I've run across many adjectives ending in "-il".

Would it be possible for you to give me some examples? It's difficult to look up words by their endings.

Thanks!!

[wrholt]

Let's see: two common ones are fácil and difícil. And there's the near homonym to my first name, vil.

[laepelba]

So is "-il" an indicator that a word is an adjective? Or is it just these few words that happen to end in "-il"?

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by laepelba

So is "-il" an indicator that a word is an adjective? Or is it just these few words that happen to end in "-il"?

There are also a few nouns that end in "-il". It is not an indicator of what the type of word is.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Are they adjectives?

I am reading an article that has the following sentence: Juan tiene un problema ratonil. My online Spanish-English dictionary doesn't have the word ratonil. But the RAE says "ratonero". It all makes sense in context, but I don't know that I've run across many adjectives ending in "-il".

Would it be possible for you to give me some examples? It's difficult to look up words by their endings.

Thanks!!

Yes, there are adjectives ending in "-il" but you're right, they're not very common. A couple come to mind:
"febril" = "feverish" // "monjil" = "prudish"(comes from "monja" = nun")

You know adjectives in Spanish have a lot of endings. Some are more common than others. When we want to "adjectivize" a noun, we tend to use the ending "oso/osa" : Trabajo = trabajoso // Fatiga = fatigoso.

And of course there are adjectives ending in "-avo" (bravo), "-ave" (suave), "-evo" (nuevo), "-ive" (inclusive), "eve" (breve)

Another common ending is "ivo", also used sometimes when making an adjective out of another word, usually a verb:Ahorrar = ahorrativo // Vengar = vengativo

Needless to say there are several other endings.

Hope this helps

[laepelba]

Yes, all of what you've both said helps very much!! I'm trying to find ways of giving myself mental clues as to what part of speech a word might be in, even if I don't know the word, and if context isn't helping me too much. I don't have much of a vocabulary yet (working on that), but I'm trying to do more and more reading. Recognizing word endings, suffixes, and even prefixes, etc., will be helpful.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Yes, all of what you've both said helps very much!! I'm trying to find ways of giving myself mental clues as to what part of speech a word might be in, even if I don't know the word, and if context isn't helping me too much. I don't have much of a vocabulary yet (working on that), but I'm trying to do more and more reading. Recognizing word endings, suffixes, and even prefixes, etc., will be helpful.

At this rate you'll be speaking Spanish better than me in a few months

You know, I don't have much opportunity to speak Spanish where I live and I'm actually forgetting the words... can you believe it? When I talk to my family or friends on the internet I get so embarrassed when I don't remember a word and I have to look it up in the English-Spanish dictionary..

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Luna Azul

At this rate you'll be speaking Spanish better than me in a few months

You know, I don't have much opportunity to speak Spanish where I live and I'm actually forgetting the words... can you believe it? When I talk to my family or friends on the internet I get so embarrassed when I don't remember a word and I have to look it up in the English-Spanish dictionary..

I doubt I will ever speak Spanish better than a native speaker, especially one who is educated! But I have an ongoing concern about studying the academics of the language so much that I end up sounding more like a textbook, and that I won't be able to handle colloquialisms.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I doubt I will ever speak Spanish better than a native speaker, especially one who is educated! But I have an ongoing concern about studying the academics of the language so much that I end up sounding more like a textbook, and that I won't be able to handle colloquialisms.

I can understand that concern..

[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?