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Le prĂ©fixe in– et ses variantes
The French prefix in– and its variants are added to adjectives, adverbs, and nouns to create antonyms. The English equivalents are un– and in-.
Par exemple…
| français | English | ajouté à | added to | |
| inachevé | unfinished | achevé | finished | |
| incapacité | incapacity | capacité | capacity | |
| indéfini | undefined | défini | defined | |
| inélégant | inelegant | élégant | elegant | |
| innommé | unnamed | nommé | named |
- [in] in front of a vowel or n
- [ɛ̃] in front of another consonant
Variants
While in- is the most common spelling, it can only be added to words that begin with
- a vowel
or - a consonant other than b – l – m – p – r
For words that start with one of those five consonants, you need a different spelling.
1) im-
This prefix is for words that begin with b, m, or p
| français | English | ajouté à | added to | |
| imbuvable | undrinkable | buvable | drinkable | |
| immobile | immobile | mobile | mobile | |
| impair | uneven | pair | even |
- [ɛ̃] in front of b or p, and in the words immangeable, immanquable, immariable, and immettable
- [im] in all other imm- words
2) il-
This spelling is for words that begin with l
| français | English | ajouté à | added to | |
| illégitime | illegitimate | légitime | legitimate | |
| illettré | illiterate | lettré | literate |
IPA pronunciation: [il]
3) ir-
This prefix is added to words that begin with r
| français | English | ajouté à | added to | |
| irréaliste | unrealistic | réaliste | realistic | |
| irréparable | irreparable | réparable | repairable |
IPA pronunciation: [iʀ]
Related lessons
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