Spanish Diminutives

Diminutives are very common in Spanish. They are used more than in English. Spanish diminutives are formed with a suffix.

With words that end in a vowel, the vowel is dropped and -ita or -ito is added. With feminine nouns, the suffix variant is -ita and with masculine nouns it is -ito. Here are examples:

pájaro (bird) pájarito (small bird)
perro (dog) perrito (small dog)
casa (house) casita (small house)

With words that end in e the suffix is -cita or -cito.

café (coffee) cafecito (small coffee)
tigre (tiger) tigrecito (small tiger)
fuente (fountain) fuentecita (small fountain)

With words that end in n or r the ending is the same as with vowels.

camión (truck) camioncito (small truck)
rincón (corner) rinconcito (small corner)
mujer (woman) mujercita (small woman)

Words which end in other consonants add -ita or -ito.

låpiz (pencil) lapicito (small pencil)
pastel (cake) pastelito (small cake)
reloj (clock) relojito (small clock)

Many words lack a diminutive such as ciudad (city), edad (age) and espacio (space). A few diminutives are irregular such as pez (fish) and pececito (small fish). Spanish diminutives can be applied not only to nouns but also to adjectives and adverbs. Examples include quieto/quietecito (quiet) and rápido/rapidito (quickly).

Diminutives are used extensively in Spanish. The Spanish diminutive has suffix variants. They can also be combined with the plural suffix -s. Spanish diminutives can be formed not only with nouns but also with adjectives and adverbs.