Learn italian deverbal suffixes "-zione" and "-sione"

In this video I'm gonna talk about the suffix -ZIONE / -SIONE and deverbal nouns ending in "-ione".

This lesson is aimed at those who want to learn Italian well. If you are learning the Italian language, and wish to speak Italian like a native speaker, you are in the right place!

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Hi, everybody! I'm Luca and in this video I wanted to talk about two suffixes. Namely, about the suffix "ZIONE" and the suffix "SIONE".

This video is my reply to a request I received some time ago from one of my subscribers, who specifically asked me to talk about nouns ending in "ione".

I think that this person was referring to nouns formed with the suffix "sione" or "zione", not to those few nouns ending in "ione", such as "scorpione" and other few masculine nouns. Including a bad word which I'm not gonna say in this video because I'm a gentleman.

Alright. Let me say right away that the suffixes "-ZIONE" and "-SIONE" are in fact the same suffix: in some cases we use "-zione", in other cases we use "-sione".

This depends on the origin of the word. That is, on the etimology of the word. Namely, if the Latin word included the sequence TIO, in Italian we will find "-zione". By contrast, if the Latin word included the sequence SIO, we will find "-sione". So, in other words, these are two versions of the same suffix.

The second important thing to note is that the suffixes "-zione" and "-sione" give birth to a noun which is always grammatically feminine.

With this suffix, we can get a noun from a verb. This type of nouns are called "nomi deverbali". Or deverbal nouns. Precisely because they are formed from a verb.

Some scholars call this type of deverbal nouns "nomi d'azione e di risultato". Why? Because these nouns essentially refer to the process, or the result, of the action indicated by the corresponding verb.

For example, if we combine the suffix -ZIONE with the verb "creare", specifically with the present tense stem, we will get "creazione". What does the word "creazione" mean? Basically, it's the result, or the process, of creating.

From the verb "alterare" we will get "alterazione".

From the verb "cancellare" we will get "cancellazione".

From the verb "eliminare" we get "eliminazione". What does "eliminazione" mean? "Eliminazione" indicates the result or the process of eliminating.

Similarly, "la cancellazione" refers to the result, or the process, of cancelling/deleting.

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From the verb "classificare" we will get "classificazione".

From the verb "simulare" we get "simulazione".

From the verb "imitare", "imitazione".

From the verb "constatare", "constatazione".

From "produrre", "produzione".

From "applicare", "applicazione".

From the verb "assimilare", we get "assimilazione".

From "installare", "installazione".

From "affermare", "affermazione". What does "affermazione" mean? It's the result of the action indicated by the verb "affermare". We know that "affermare" essentially means saying. "Un'affermazione" is something that has been said.

Similarly, from "dichiarare" we get "dichiarazione". What does "dichiarazione" mean? It's something that has been stated.

Like I said, depending on the verb, the noun can refer either to the process or the result of the action.

Well, as you can see, I mostly gave you examples with the suffix -ZIONE, which is for sure more common. That is, nouns ending in "-zione" are undoubtedly more common than nouns ending in "-sione".

Like I said, the choice depends on each word's etimology. So to be 100% sure, you would need to know from where a given word comes from.

Earlier I told you that if the Latin word included the sequence TIO, we'll have -ZIONE. By contrast, if it included the sequence SIO, we will have -SIONE.

It's clear that this rule is too complex to be applied in real life, because one cannot obviously remember from where exactly a given word comes from.

There's a practical rule, possibly easier to use, which applies in most cases. Namely: if a verb's past participle ends in T, we will use -ZIONE.

For example: "produrre", "prodotto". There's T, so the suffix will be "-zione".

Another example could be "creare", "creato". There's T, thus "creazione".

Or "affermare", "affermato", > "affermazione".

This is probably the reason why -ZIONE is way more common. Because past participles ending in -T are the most common.

By contrast, if the past participle doesn't end in T, but in S, we will use the suffix "-sione".

For instance, the verb "illudere" comes to mind. The past participle of "Illudere" is "illuso". So there's S. Thus is will be "illusione".

The same goes for the verb "distendere": "disteso", "distensione".

Or the verb "fondere", "fuso (this verb has an irregular past participle), "fusione".

This rule clearly has some exceptions. For example, let's consider the compound verbs from the verb "torcere", right?! These have a past participle ending in "torto". Technically speaking, there's T, but in fact we have the noun "contorsione" and the like.

There are may also be other exceptions, but that's the general rule. Verbs with a past participle ending in T, which are the most common type, require the suffix "-zione". Verbs with a different kind of past participle require "-sione".

The important thing to remember is that these nouns are always feminine - no matter what. Many non-native speakers make errors, especially where for example there's L with apostrophe followed by such noun.

For example, in the phrase "l'esclusione", "esclusione" is grammatically feminine. Thus, if I use an adjectve, it should be feminine. So it should be "questa esclusione". Similarly, if I have "eccezione", it should be "questa eccezione".

Thing is, A followed by E is removed, and an apostrophe is added. So this can create confusion. Because in speaking people don't say "questa esclusione", but say "quest'esclusione". This is a feminine noun, though.

Similarly, if we consider the noun "recensione", I should say: "Ho letto una recensione molto lunga". As you can see, it's a feminine noun.

I guess the main mistake that non-native speakers make is precisely this, that is, assuming that these nouns are masculine. In fact that's not the case. These nouns are always feminine - no matter what.

Because non-native speakers essentially mix up the suffix -ONE, which is used to form masculine nouns, with the suffix -ZIONE/-SIONE. But they are two different suffixes.

Not long ago I made a video about another very important suffix: the suffix "-ABILE" and "-IBILE". Well, I'll add a card to this video-lesson in the top corner. If you wish to learn Italian well, you might wanna take a look at this video!