Language/Esperanto/Grammar/Prefixe-MAL—-and-Suffixe-—IN

Prefixe MAL— and Suffixe —IN in Esperanto

The Esperanto language uses a number of prefixes and suffixes to give certain words another meaning.

Don't hesitate to look into these other pages after completing this lesson: Gender, Negation, ADVERBS & Personal pronouns.

MAL-

The prefix MAL- is used to express the opposite of a word. Just paste it in front of the word.

Esperanto	English
Kontenta	happy/satisfied
malkontenta	unhappy/dissatisfied
bona	good
malbona	bad
la amo	the love
la malamo	the hatred
la amiko	the friend
la malamiko	the enemy
longa	long
mallonga	short

-IN

One of these suffixes is -IN. When you put it behind a noun (first drop the -O, then add the suffix, then add an -O again because it's a noun), it indicates that it's the feminine form of the word. In other words: it forms the female equivalent of persons and animals.

Esperanto	English
la patro	the father
la patrino	the mother
la frato	the brother
la fratino	the sister
la azeno	the donkey
la azenino	the female donkey
la heroo	the hero
la heroino	the heroine
la viro	the man
la virino	the woman

Sources

https://unilang.org/course.php?res=64

Other Lessons

• Interrogation
• THE CORRELATIVES
• Adverb
• Questions
• Personal pronouns
• Plural
• Plurals
• Verbs
• Pronouns
• THE NEGATIVE