- Primitive nouns are nouns that are not derived from any other nouns.
- Derived nouns are derived from primitive nouns.
| Primitive nouns | Derived nouns |
| Pesca (fish) | Pescivendolo(fishmonger) Pescatore(fisherman) Pescheria(fish market) |
| Lavoro (work) | Lavorazione (working) Lavoratore (worker) |
1. I nomi primitivi (primitive nouns).
Simple nouns (also called primitive) are those nouns that do not derive from any other word in the Italian language: sole (sun), uomo (man), libro (book), acqua (water).
Simple nouns consist of the root, which contains the meaning of the word, and the ending, which indicates the grammatical characteristics of the noun, specifying the gender and number
- Sol-e
- Uom-o
- Libr-o
- Acqu-a
- Alber-i
- Lampad-a
- Tazz-e
2. I nomi derivati (derived nouns).
Derived names are those names formed by adding some specific grammatical elements, called prefixes or suffixes, to a base name.
- Lavoro –> Lavor-atore.
- Giornale –> Giornal-ista.
- Abilità –> dis-abilità.
- Attività –> iper-attività.
The prefix is the element that comes before the name
- in-coscienza.
- dis-amore.
- iper-tensione.
The suffix is instead found after the base word
- Oper-atore.
- Vin-aio.
- Pan-ificio.
- Zuccher-iera.