-az

Adverbial Noun Suffix '-az'

Level 5

The suffixes -as and -azi attach to noun stems to create adverbs. They describe the physical way, spatial position, or manner in which an action occurs, such as 'face down' or 'by hand'.

How It Works

The suffix -as is a productive derivational morpheme in Albanian that functions as follows:

  • Morphology: It attaches to the stem of a noun or adjective. If the word ends in a vowel (like the common ë), that vowel is dropped. For example: dorë (hand) becomes doras (by hand).
  • Adjective Base: Unlike many other adverbial suffixes, this can be applied to adjectives to create specific nuances of manner, such as fshehtas (secretly) from i fshehtë or haptas (openly) from i hapur.
  • Standard Variants and Stress: Standard Albanian uses -as and -azi. The form -az is considered dialectal (Gheg). A key difference is the word stress: forms in -as are stressed on the root (bárkas), while forms in -azi shift the stress to the suffix (barkázi).
  • Meaning: It primarily indicates physical orientation (e.g., shpinë 'back' → shpinas 'on one's back') or a specific manner of movement.

Examples (4)

  1. Ai u shtri barkas në bar.

    He lay face down (on his belly) in the grass.

    Word by Word: He himself lay belly-wise in grass.

    Here, 'barkas' is formed from 'bark' (belly) to describe the physical position of the subject.

  2. Ushtarët ecnin radhazi drejt kufirit.

    The soldiers were walking in a row toward the border.

    Word by Word: Soldiers were-walking row-wise toward border.

    The adverb 'radhazi' comes from 'radhë' (row/line) and describes the spatial arrangement of the movement.

  3. Ata biseduan faqas për problemin.

    They talked face to face about the problem.

    Word by Word: They talked face-wise for problem.

    Derived from 'faqe' (face/cheek), 'faqas' indicates the manner of the interaction.

  4. Fëmija po zvarritej këmbadoras.

    The child was crawling on all fours.

    Word by Word: Child was crawling foot-hand-wise.

    This is a compound adverb using both 'këmbë' (foot) and 'dorë' (hand) with the -as suffix.

Common Mistakes

  • Failing to drop the final vowel of the noun stem.

    dorëas
    doras

    When a noun ends in -ë or -e, that vowel must be removed before adding the adverbial suffix.

  • Confusing the stress patterns between the two variants.

    bárkazi
    barkázi

    While -as usually follows the penultimate stress rule (bárkas), the extended suffix -azi always pulls the stress onto the suffix itself (barkázi).

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-azLevel 5Adverbial Noun Suffix '-az'

Learn This First

To understand the '-az' adverbial suffix, learners need a solid grasp of Albanian noun stems (masculine and feminine) and how adverbs of manner function within a sentence. Familiarity with word stress is also helpful as the suffix creates a new polysyllabic word.