A suffix is a chunk on the end. Like a prefix, it changes the word — but it often changes the word’s job rather than its meaning.
Suffix A chunk added to the end of a word that changes it.
Step 1: Let's Learn
Read it, or press Listen and follow the words.
-ful means full of
Helpful means full of help. Careful means full of care. Colorful means full of color.
-less means without
Helpless means without help. Careless means without care. Colourless means without color.
So they are opposites
Helpful and helpless. Careful and careless. One base word, two suffixes, two opposite meanings.
-ly is different
It does not change the meaning much. It changes how the word is used. Quick describes a thing; quickly describes how something is done.
That is changing the job
"A quick dog" and "the dog ran quickly". The idea is the same; the word is doing something different in the sentence.
Words can have both ends
Unhelpfully is un + help + ful + ly. Four chunks, and the base is a word you have known for years.
This is the long-word strategy complete
Take off the front. Take off the end. Read the base. Then put the meaning back together from the pieces.
Step 2: Watch an Example
One step at a time.
Opposites From One Base
Ana looks at the word "care".
- Step 1
Careful means full of care.
What -ly Actually Does
Sam compares quick and quickly.
- Step 1
"A quick dog." Quick is describing the dog.
Four Chunks
Ana meets "unhelpfully".
- Step 1
It is eleven letters and looks impossible.
Step 3: Your Turn
Practice makes it stick.
Two Suffixes
Problem 1 of 2
What is the difference between helpful and helpless?
A Very Long Word
Problem 2 of 2
How would you attack "unhelpfully"?
Chunks at the End
1 of 5
What does -ful mean?
2 of 5
What does -less mean?
3 of 5
What does -ly change?
4 of 5
How many chunks are in unhelpfully?
5 of 5
What is the full strategy for a long word?
Step 4: Quick Check
Show what you know.
Question 1 of 1
What does "colourless" mean?
What You Learned
- A suffix is a chunk on the end of a word.
- -ful means full of and -less means without, so they make opposites.
- -ly changes the job a word does rather than its meaning.
- Take off the front, take off the end, read the base, rebuild the meaning.