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?

[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.........)