Suffix · forms nouns
Names a collective action, process or result: dam becomes damage.
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
The suffix -age creates nouns that name a collective action, a process, a quantity or a result. From "dam" you get "damage"; from "pack" you get "package"; from "marry" you get "marriage". Many -age words are borrowings from Old French, so the pronunciation can surprise: -age does not sound like /eɪdʒ/ (the word "age") but like /ɪdʒ/ = "ij". package = PAK-ij, marriage = MA-rij.
1. High-frequency everyday words: damage, package, marriage, village, manage, language, advantage, message, passage, storage. 2. Technical and business words: percentage, coverage, shortage, usage, voltage. The first group is essential A2-B1 vocabulary.
The -age suffix has Old French origins and produces -aje in Spanish. Cognates are common: message = mensaje passage = pasaje voltage = voltaje percentage = porcentaje However not all work the same: "marriage" = matrimonio (not "marriaje"), "damage" = daño (not "damaje"). The -aje pattern works better for technical and formal words.
Nominal or verbal root + age. Pronunciation: /ɪdʒ/ = "ij", not /eɪdʒ/.
Most -age words are fixed Old French vocabulary: you cannot freely add -age to new English words. Learn them as vocabulary items.
-age/ɪdʒ/ · sounds like 'ij' as in 'bridge'
Tap the button to hear how the ending sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.
-age in these words sounds /ɪdʒ/ = "ij". It does not sound like the word "age". damage = DAM-ij, package = PAK-ij.
marry + age = marriage. The -y of "marry" changes to -i: marriage = MA-rij.
"language" is a fixed word. It is spelled "language" and pronounced LANG-gwij.
A trick to remember it
Pronounce -age as "ij" (not "age"): package = PAK-ij, message = MES-ij, village = VIL-ij. The most important -age words: damage, package, marriage, language, message, storage, coverage, percentage.
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
How is the -age pronounced in "village"?
Exercise 3 · Pick the right one
"shortage" means...
The suffix -age names a collective action, process or result: dam becomes damage. In Spanish it usually maps to -aje / -ada.
The ending -age is pronounced /ɪdʒ/ · sounds like 'ij' as in 'bridge'. For example, "damage".
"dam" becomes "damage". It is a typical example of the -age suffix.
-tion, -ness, -ful, -ly, -able... every ending you need to understand thousands of words at once.