Derived adjective ending with "-able"

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crazYgeeK

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Is there a general rule that can be applied to all transitive verbs that we only need to add "able" after them to form the corresponding adjective.For exampls: touchable, loveable, understandable, movable, searchable, ...Could you please give me some knowledge about this ?Thank you so much !!!
 

Raymott

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Is there a general rule that can be applied to all transitive verbs that we only need to add "able" after them to form the corresponding adjective.For exampls: touchable, loveable, understandable, movable, searchable, ...Could you please give me some knowledge about this ?Thank you so much !!!
Yes, you can generally do this. Some would sound strange if they are not common.
Note that some verbs use '-ible', especially those with variations based on Latin:
eat - edible; read - legible; see - visible; hear - audible; do - possible.
You could say 'eatable, readable, seeable, doable', etc. in some cases; but 'hearable' sounds odd.
 

crazYgeeK

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Thank you Raymott, you gave me some words which are really odd to me, I've never known about them before. Could you please tell me more about intransitives ? Can we do the same way to them ? Such as the intransitive verb "appear", is there a corresponding adjective to it like "appearable" ? I've never heard about "feelable" but is it used in reality ?
Thank you so much ! Hihi, my English is better day by day, the more I learn it, the more I love it, I also love the way English speakers think and do. Thank you !
 

Raymott

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Thank you Raymott, you gave me some words which are really odd to me, I've never known about them before. Could you please tell me more about intransitives ? Can we do the same way to them ? Such as the intransitive verb "appear", is there a corresponding adjective to it like "appearable" ? I've never heard about "feelable" but is it used in reality ?
Appearable isn't a good word. Nor is feelable.

Thank you so much ! Hihi, my English is better day by day, the more I learn it, the more I love it, I also love the way English speakers think and do. Thank you !
It's possible to make '-able' adjectives with some intransitive verbs.
But when you try to do it, sometimes you make them transitive. Eg. 'run'.
"This marathon course is unrunnable" -> "I can't run the course."

However, here are some intransitive uses:
"That suggestion is unthinkable!" - "I wouldn't even think about it" (You don't think the suggestion, so it's still intransitive)
"His idea is laughable" - "I laugh at his idea." (You don't laugh the idea).

I think it's harder to do with intransitive verbs, in general.
 
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