Learn Prefixes, Suffixes to Expand Your Vocabulary

On a recent program, we explained that knowing just a few root words in English can help you understand the meaning of hundreds more words.

在最近的一个节目中，我们解释说，仅了解几个英语词根就可以帮助您理解数百个单词的含义。

To refresh your memory, a root word is the simplest form of a word. For example, two forms of the root for the word “see” are vis- and vid- such as in the words "television" and "video."

为了刷新您的记忆，词根是单词最简单的形式。 例如，单词“see”的词根的两种形式是 vis- 和 vid-，例如单词“television”和“video”。

Today, we will tell you about prefixes and suffixes – groups of letters that appear at the beginnings and endings of words.

今天，我们将向您介绍前缀和后缀——出现在单词开头和结尾的字母组。

Learning the meanings of common prefixes and suffixes can help you understand unknown English words you come across. It can also help you become better at spelling words.

学习常见前缀和后缀的含义可以帮助您理解遇到的未知英语单词。 它还可以帮助您更好地拼写单词。

Let's start with prefixes.

让我们从前缀开始。

A prefix is a letter or a group of letters that we add to the beginning of a word. Prefixes change the meanings of words. For example, the prefix un- (or u-n) can mean "not," "remove," or "opposite." Adding un- to the word "happy" gives you the word "unhappy," which means not happy.

前缀是我们添加到单词开头的一个字母或一组字母。 前缀改变单词的含义。 例如，前缀 un-（或 u-n）可以表示“不”、“删除”或“相反”。 在“happy”这个词上加上un-就得到了“unhappy”这个词，意思是不高兴。

U-n and r-e (or re-) are the two most common prefixes in the English language. Re- means "again" or "back," such as in the words "rethink" "redo" and "repay."

U-n 和 r-e（或 re-）是英语中两个最常见的前缀。 Re- 的意思是“再次”或“返回”，例如“重新思考”、“重做”和“偿还”等词。

Here are a few things to remember when learning prefixes: Now, let's turn to suffixes.

学习前缀时需要记住以下几点： 现在，让我们转向后缀。

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word.

后缀是添加到单词末尾的一个字母或一组字母。

Suffixes are commonly used to show the part of speech of a word. For example, adding "ion" to the verb "act" gives us "action," the noun form of the word. Suffixes also tell us the verb tense of words or whether the words are plural or singular. ​Some common suffixes are -er, -s, -es, -ed, -ing and -ly. Here are a few things to remember when learning suffixes: There are additional suffix rules, but they deal with spelling and can be learned with time and practice.

后缀通常用于显示单词的词性。 例如，将“ion”添加到动词“act”后，就得到了“action”，即该词的名词形式。 后缀还告诉我们单词的动词时态或者单词是复数还是单数。 一些常见的后缀是 -er、-s、-es、-ed、-ing 和 -ly。 学习后缀时需要记住以下几点： 还有其他后缀规则，但它们涉及拼写，可以通过时间和练习来学习。

A thing to keep in mind about both prefixes and suffixes is that some are only used with some words.

关于前缀和后缀要记住的一点是，有些前缀和后缀仅与某些单词一起使用。

For example, we add the suffix -ful to some nouns to mean "full of," such as in the words "beautiful" or "helpful."

例如，我们在某些名词上添加后缀 -ful 来表示“充满”，例如“美丽”或“有帮助”等词。

But, we cannot add -ful to just any noun.

但是，我们不能为任何名词添加 -ful。

You could not, for example, say "loveful" to mean full of love. So, what are some ways that you can practice common prefixes and suffixes? One way is to use online flashcards from websites like Quizlet. You can choose sets of cards that are already made or create and use your own sets.

例如，你不能说“loveful”来表示充满爱。 那么，有哪些方法可以练习常见的前缀和后缀呢？ 一种方法是使用 Quizlet 等网站上的在线抽认卡。 您可以选择已制作的卡片组，也可以创建并使用您自己的卡片组。

Or, you can make your own flashcards with pieces of paper.

或者，您可以用纸制作自己的抽认卡。

Once you've spent time practicing, take a news story or page in a book and look for words that have the prefixes and suffixes you learned. Then, use what you know about the meaning of the root words to guess the meanings of those words. Learning prefixes and suffixes will not only build your vocabulary but can make unfamiliar English words a lot less frightening.

一旦你花时间练习，就可以拿一个新闻故事或书中的一页来查找带有你学过的前缀和后缀的单词。 然后，利用您对词根含义的了解来猜测这些词的含义。 学习前缀和后缀不仅可以增加你的词汇量，还可以让不熟悉的英语单词不再那么可怕。

I'm Phil Dierking. And I'm Alice Bryant.

我是菲尔·迪尔金。 我是爱丽丝·布莱恩特。

Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English.

艾丽丝·布莱恩特为学习英语写了这个故事。

George Grow was the editor. ________________________________________________________ spell – v. to say, write, or print the letters of a word (gerund: spelling) practice – n. to do something again and again in order to become better at it vowel – n. one of the letters a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y flashcard – n. a card that has words, numbers, or pictures on it and that is used to help students learn about a subject

乔治·格罗是该书的编辑。 _______________________________________________________ 拼写 – v. 说、写或打印单词的字母（动名词：拼写） 练习 – n.一次又一次地做某事，以便做得更好 元音 – n.字母 a、e、i、o、u 之一，有时还包括 y 抽认卡 – n.上面有文字、数字或图片的卡片，用于帮助学生学习某个主题