What is a diminutive suffix

In Spanish we have the possibility of create diminutives using suffixes. In other languages ​​this is usually achieved by introducing other words that designate this quality of the name. These types of words are widely used, therefore, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to see what is a diminutive suffix and how are they formed so that you know how to identify and use them correctly.

The diminutive suffix is a type of suffix, that is, a particle that is added to the end of a word to be able to modify its meaning. In Spanish we can meet different types of suffixes to indicate certain characteristics of each of the words to which they are added. In the case of diminutives, what they will do is show us this degree of smallness with respect to the word they make up.

Thus we can point out that diminutive suffixes are formed from the singular of a word determined. Adding it to the end of these makes that change of meaning to a diminutive degree is created. To understand it better, let's see an example:

Home: its diminutive would be little house. That is, to the noun house, we have added a suffix, in this case –Ita. This when added to the root of the word causes the meaning to change from a neutral degree to a diminutive one in which it is shown that the house we are referring to is small.

Although you can add particles or words to create diminutives, the most common in Spanish is the use of this type of suffix.

Characteristics of diminutive suffixes

We already know what diminutive suffixes are, now we are going to see what characteristics they have:

Diminutive suffixes they do not change the meaning of the word from which they are derived. That is, if we consider the previous example, the word house means the same thing. By adding the diminutive suffix what we are doing is indicating that its size is smaller, therefore we could say that one of its functions is to emphasize this aspect of the name and make it more relevant.

Can add appreciative or affective value: the addition to the words of this type of suffixes can, sometimes, not indicate size with respect to the original noun. In many cases it is used to show the intention of the speaker by making an appreciation or showing her affection for the thing named. We can understand it much better with an example. Taking the previous example again, indicating little house can also have an appreciative value since This may be a normal size, but the speaker indicates it by showing her feelings about the herself.

We have already been leaving some clues of how diminutives are formed. As you have seen, they are created by adding a series of suffixes that denote this appreciation of nouns. Thus, the most normal thing is that the words acquire this degree when to the root of the same we add –Ito, if our word is masculine, or –Ita, if it is female.

• Thus we could say, roughly speaking, that diminutives are formed by eliminating the last vowel of the word and adding the suffix -ito / -ita to it.
• In the event that the word that we are going to use ends in a consonant, we will directly add the indicated suffix, according to its gender. For example, if we have the word paper, we would form its diminutive as follows: paper / paper-ito.

On the other hand, diminutives can also form Words that do not have diminutives by adding the suffix –Icito / -cita or -cecito/ -cecita. Following the same rules that we have seen previously. Let's see some examples:

• Pixie
• Little fish
• Little foot
• Little piece

Other diminutive suffixes

Even if –Ico / -ica and –ito / -ita They are the most frequent diminutive suffixes, the truth is that we can find some others that are also used regularly:

• -illo / -illa
• -ico / -ica
• -in / ina
• -soil / uela
• -ete / -eta
• -uco / -uca

There are some words in Spanish that they do not admit diminutive suffixes. These are called defective words and they are more common than we think. Let's see some examples of them:

• Age
• Goodness
• Town
• Evil
• Useful
• Monday
• Friday
• Space
• Appetite
• Termite

Diminutives of diminutives

For their part, the diminutives, in turn, can also create their own diminutives. Although it seems complicated to understand, it is very simple. These words already have a diminutive suffix, but a second can still be applied to put more emphasis on meaning of the word specifically. We can understand it much better with an example.

• We start from the word little. To this we are going to add a diminutive suffix, in this case –Ito in such a way that the word we get will be a little. This is already a word with a diminutive suffix, but we can put more emphasis on it if we add a suffix to it again –Ito. In this way the new word would be as little bit.

We hope this lesson on what diminutive suffixes are has been helpful in understanding them. If you want to continue increasing your knowledge, we encourage you to visit our section of Spanish language in which you will find more content like this.

Spanish word formation procedures, Ramón Almela Pérez. 1999, ed. Ariel, Barcelona. ISBN 84-344-2844-X.

"The appreciative derivation", by Fernando A. Lázaro Mora, in vol. 1 of Descriptive Grammar of the Spanish language, directed by I. Bosque and V. Demonte. 1999, ed. Espasa, Madrid. ISBN 84-239-7918-0 (volume 1); ISBN 84-239-7917-2 (complete work).