What is a suffix? What rules exist for adjective suffixes ? In what case is the spelling of the suffix an exception to the rule? To answer these questions, you will have to carefully remember the school curriculum, and, perhaps, delve into linguistics.
Briefly about morphemes
To begin with, it is worth remembering which morphemes or parts of a word stand out in Russian.
The necessary and most substantial morpheme is the root. While there are many words without prefixes, suffixes, endings (service words, interjections, immutable nouns, for example: attache, chimpanzee), words without a root simply do not exist. Word-forming morphemes help form new words. The prefix precedes the root or another prefix, and the suffix always follows the root or another suffix.
Suffixes are formative - they do not create new words, but allow the word to change form. Most often this applies to verbs. For example, in the word "write": "-t-" - the suffix of the formation of the infinitive. In the form, he "wrote": "-l-" is the suffix of the past tense. In the words "wrote", "wrote" after this suffix followed by the end of the feminine or plural.
The ending is always formative and usually follows the remaining morphemes, which together form the basis (with the exception of words with postfixes: “washed” - the ending “-a-”, the postfix “-s”). The ending shows the values of gender, person, number and case, or at least one of these values.
Classification of adjective suffixes in meaning
It is difficult to make a strict division of suffixes of adjective names. The fact is that many of them have several meanings. Yet there are major groups of these suffixes:
- Diminutive suffixes "-onk -", "- enk-": pretty, light.
- Qualitative suffixes "-ast-" ("-at-"), "-ist-", "-live-", "-chat-" and some others: toothy, hairy, fluffy, caring, patterned.
- The suffixes "-owat-", "-evat-" mean a weakening of the qualities of adjectives: bluish, sweetish.
- Suffixes and to indicate the names of the area, for example, "-sk-", "-ensk-", "-insk": Moscow, Penza, Cuban.
- Suffixes for the formation of possessive adjectives, for example, "-in-": chicken, daddy. There are a great many semantic groups of adjectives.
- Suffixes with material values are among the most numerous. "-Ov-", "-ev-", "-an-", "-yan-", "-en-": oak, soy, leather, ice, pumpkin. And it is these suffixes that have a broader meaning, for example, "-an-", "-yan-" mean not only the material, but also the purpose of the room for something (wardrobe, wood shed) or the way of working on something ( peat, wind).
The spelling of suffixes is rich in school rules and exceptions to them. The letter "-n-", which can go alone, or can be doubled, often turns out to be a stumbling block not only for schoolchildren, but also for adults who have forgotten the rules. Therefore, it will be useful to recall them.
Spelling of the letter "-n-" in adjective suffixes
We will deal with the mysterious letter "-n-"! There are suffixes that are always written with two "n": "-on-", "-nen-". How to identify them? The suffix, as you know, comes after the root: morning (s), revolution (s).
Also doubled "-n-" is always found in words with a root ending in "-n-" and the suffix "-n-". This is logical. The last consonant root and suffix add up, and none of these letters fall out. For example: lemon-n, spring-n (s).
Some adjectives with -n- do not have a suffix at all. These are such words as: young, pig.
The suffixes "-an-", "-yan-" are written with one "n": sand, clay. When is the spelling of suffixes an exception to the rule? In the case of this suffix - wooden, glass, pewter.
Windy and oily
Cases with the words "windy" and "buttery" are interesting. They are also an example of an exception to the spelling rules for suffixes. From the word "wind" formed two whole adjectives - "windy" and "windmill". "Windy" - the same as "with the wind", both literally and figuratively: windy morning, windy man.
“Windmill” means “by the wind”, for example: a windmill. In the first case, the suffix "–en-" is highlighted, which as an exception is written with one "-n-".
Two adjectives are also formed from the word “oil”: buttery and buttery. How not to get confused? "Butter" - buttered, coated with butter. By its origin, this word is very close to the participle from the verb "butter" (cf .: "fry" - "fried"): butter pancake, butter eyes (like butter), butter week (when pancakes are buttered). “Oil” is made of oil or based on oil: oil stain, oil paint.
What other rules are there?
Are there more rules for adjective suffixes? Of course. The suffixes “-iv-”, “-ev-” under stress should be written “-iv-”, without the stress “-ev-”: playful, lazy, flattering, but bean, field. An exception to the rule is the spelling of the suffix "-iv-" in an unstressed position in the words: gracious, holy fool.
The suffixes "-live-", "-chiv-" must be written through "-", since the suffixes "-lev-" and "-chev-" in our language simply do not exist. That is why they are written the same way, regardless of the stress: happy and lucky.
The suffixes "-ev-", "-evit-", "-evat-" should be written after soft consonants, hissing and "c": bluish, plush, youngish.
The suffixes "-ov-", "-ovit-", "-ovat-" are written after strong consonants, except for "c": garden, poisonous, grayish.
The suffix "-sk-" is written after most consonants. Only the letters "k", "c", "h" cause its simplification to "k", and at the base there is an alternation of the original consonant with "c": a sailor - seaman, German - German.
The wealth of the Russian language
Different textbooks and different sites give out different numbers of rules. Therefore, there are many answers to the question when the spelling of the suffix is an exception to the rule. And this is no wonder - the Russian language is complex and subtle, much of it no longer obeys modern logic, but is preserved historically. These cases are usually the exception.