Transcript Diminutives!

Diminutives!
Sp.3 H
c.12
What are diminutives?
 Diminutives are suffixes that are added to
nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and even
names in order to express smallness in
size, affection, humor, pity, irony, or
ridicule.
 With diminutives, you can say something is
little without actually using the adjective
‘little’.
What are the endings?
-ito
-illo
-ecito
-ecillo
-cito
-cillo
Remember: Diminutives change to
match the gender and number of the
word they modify!
The Rules:
1. For most words, including those that end
in any vowel other than E, drop the final
vowel and add -ito or -illo:
Hermano=hermanito (little brother)
Rosa=rosita (little rose)
Perro=perrito (puppy)
Continued…
2. Words with more than one syllable that end
in E, N, R, or a stressed vowel (In their
masculine forms) take -cito or -cillo:
Pintor=pintorcito (third-rate painter)
Mamá=mamacita (mommy)
Pobre=pobrecito (poor little thing)
Continued…
3. Words with one syllable that end in a
consonant take -ecito or -ecillo:
Pan=panecillo (roll)
Flor=florecilla (little flower)
Spelling Changes
Don’t forget the orthographic spelling
changes!
Chica=chiquita/chiquilla (little girl)
Diego=Dieguito
Amigo=amiguito
Expressing Ridicule
-illo or –ecillo is sometimes used to express
ridicule
No me gustan las obras de ese pintorcillo.
I don’t like the works of that (would be)
painter.
¡Qué coquetilla!
What a little flirt!