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Learning a few key suffixes lets you rapidly expand your vocabulary. By transforming words you already know (like verbs and adjectives) into abstract nouns, you can instantly unlock hundreds of new concepts.

### Actions into Concepts: *-zione*

To turn a verb into an abstract noun, Italian frequently uses the suffix *-zione*. These nouns are always feminine and equivalent to English words ending in "-tion". For example, *spiegare* (to explain) becomes *la spiegazione* (explanation), and *prenotare* (to reserve) becomes *la prenotazione* (reservation).

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### Processes and Results: *-mento*

Another common verb-to-noun suffix is *-mento*. These nouns are always masculine and usually correspond to English nouns ending in "-ment" or gerunds ending in "-ing". For example, *funzionare* (to function) becomes *il funzionamento* (functioning), and *migliorare* (to improve) becomes *il miglioramento* (improvement).

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You can easily mix these suffixes to discuss processes and their outcomes:

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### Qualities and States: *-ezza*

To turn an adjective into a noun describing a quality, use *-ezza*. These nouns are always feminine and act like the English suffix "-ness". For example, *bello* (beautiful) becomes *la bellezza* (beauty), and *debole* (weak) becomes *la debolezza* (weakness).

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### Characteristics: *-ità*

The suffix *-ità* turns adjectives into feminine abstract nouns, corresponding to the English suffix "-ity". Because they end in an accented vowel, they are invariable (their endings do not change in the plural). For instance, *comodo* (comfortable/convenient) becomes *la comodità* (convenience), and *nuovo* (new) becomes *la novità* (novelty).

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Now that you've learned all four suffixes, you can comfortably weave multiple abstract concepts together in a single sentence:

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Noun-forming suffixes (-zione, -mento, -ezza, -ità)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
explanation	la spiegazione
The explanation of this rule is very difficult.	La spiegazione di questa regola è molto difficile.
reservation	la prenotazione
I want an explanation about the reservation by tomorrow.	Voglio una spiegazione sulla prenotazione entro domani.
The first difficulty is to cancel the reservation.	La prima difficoltà è disdire la prenotazione.
You must face this difficulty alone.	Devi affrontare questa difficoltà da solo.
beauty	la bellezza
sadness	la tristezza
The beauty of this poem hides a great sadness.	La bellezza di questo poema nasconde una grande tristezza.
description	la descrizione
The description of the landscape is incredible.	La descrizione del paesaggio è incredibile.
improvement	il miglioramento
The description shows an evident improvement.	La descrizione mostra un evidente miglioramento.
functioning	il funzionamento
Its functioning is terrible, we must improve it.	Il suo funzionamento è pessimo, dobbiamo migliorarlo.
connection	il collegamento
I want to explain the functioning of the connection to you.	Ti voglio spiegare il funzionamento del collegamento.
We must finish the update by Monday.	Dobbiamo finire l'aggiornamento entro lunedì.
There is an improvement, but I cannot see it.	C'è un miglioramento, ma non lo posso vedere.
novelty	la novità
I see the connection between the sadness and the novelty.	Vedo il collegamento tra la tristezza e la novità.
This novelty has a great beauty.	Questa novità ha una grande bellezza.
the convenience / the comfort	la comodità
Convenience is more important than time.	La comodità è più importante del tempo.
In this city, convenience costs a lot.	In questa città, la comodità costa tanto.
the investment	l'investimento
You can make a safe investment.	Potete fare un investimento sicuro.
The investment in the project is useful.	L'investimento nel progetto è utile.
the weakness	la debolezza
Hiding a weakness is very difficult.	Nascondere una debolezza è molto difficile.
His weakness is chocolate.	La sua debolezza è il cioccolato.