Mastering Negativity

Learners of English face a formidable task. Certain areas of the language seem to have very few rules that you can learn. Instead you have to memorise all of the various different exceptions. One of these areas is forming the negatives (opposites) of adjectives and adverbs. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, adjectives are descriptive words and adverbs describe the manner in which an action takes place.

Sometimes it is ok (and occasionally preferable) to add the word 'not'.

I'm not hungry
The shop assistant was not at all helpful

Usually, though, the negative is formed by adding a prefix to the word for example someone who is not helpful is unhelpful. Unfotunately there are several prefixes to choose from, including “un”, “in”, “im”, “dis” and there aren't really any rules that you can use to choose the right one.

In Polish the negating prefix is most commonly "nie". Wygodny (comfortable) becomes niewygodny (uncomfortable) in the negative. Not all Polish words starting nie are negative forms of words. Take for example Niedziela (Sunday) and nietoperz (bat). The same is true in English, but to an even greater extent:

Something that is inflammable should be treated with more caution than something that is merely flammable
Indifferent is not the same as "not different"

Furthermore, there are words which seem to be negative forms of words, but you can't reverse their meaning by simply removing the prefix. Take, for example, inept (clumsy), there is no such word as "ept". The opposite of inept is skillful. So, there you are. Negating English adjectives and adverbs is just something that needs to be learnt on a case-by-case basis. Another one of the “joys” of the English language.