Understanding how to form diminutives in Spanish can greatly enrich your language skills and help you express nuances that may not be immediately apparent when communicating in Spanish.

Learning a new language often comes with the joy of discovering its unique charming nuances. One such delightful aspect of the Spanish language is the use of diminutives. Diminutives are suffixes added to words to convey a sense of smallness, affection, or familiarity. Whether you’re expressing endearment to a loved one, referring to a tiny object, or simply adding a touch of warmth to your conversation, knowing how to form diminutives in Spanish can enrich your language skills and cultural understanding.

In this article, we’ll explore the rules and variations of creating diminutives in Spanish, provide plenty of examples. By the end of this guide, you’ll be equipped to use diminutives with confidence and add a new layer of expressiveness to your Spanish conversations.

How to Form Diminutives in Spanish

The use of diminutive forms is very popular throughout Spain and Latin American countries. As you know, these words refer to persons, things, animals… and often characterize them as smaller, fewer or lower in intensity. They are often used to express affection, in order to convey great tenderness, intimacy or endearment and are very common in oral Spanish. Let’s start learning how to diminutives in Spanish.

Suffix –ito / –ita

The diminutive –ito or –ita is the most widely used diminutive used throughout all Spanish-speaking countries.

momentomomentito
gatagatita

Espera un momentito, por favor.

Hang on a moment, please.

La gatita era muy pequeña y débil.

The little cat was very small and weak.

These words don’t always translate directly into English. Sometimes they’re equivalent to nice in expressions such as nice and quiet, nice and soft , a nice little dog etc.

Suffix –illo or –illa

Another suffix you can use is –illo or –illa. In this case, the result doesn’t necessarily refer to size or is affectionate either. Sometimes it can indicate that something is unimportant.

asuntoasuntillo
famosofamosillo

Van a dar un boletín informativo sobre ese asuntillo raro del gobierno.

They are going to give the news bulletin about that weird little affair of the government.

Retransmitieron la corrida de toros. La plaza de toros estaba llena de famosillos.

They broadcasted the bullfighting feast. The bullfighting ring was full of small-time celebrities.

Other Diminutive Suffixes

Other diminutive suffixes include –ete, –ico or –ica, –ín or –ina, and –uelo or –uela. These suffixes are more common in certain areas than in others. For example, the suffix –ico is popular in countries such as Cuba, Venezuela or Colombia.

viejoviejete
perroperrico
pequeñapequeñina
chicochicuelo

Luis es un viejete muy simpático. Todos los días me da un caramelo.

Luis is a very nice old man. Every day he gives me a sweet.

Mira qué lindo perrico, tan pequeño. ¿Cómo se llama?

Look at the pretty little dog, he’s so tiny. What’s his name?

Me di cuenta de que la gata era tan pequeñina que podía esconderse en cualquier sitio.

I realized the cat was so small that it could be hidden anywhere.

Ellos se llevaban muy bien hasta que los dos conocieron a este chicuelo.

They used to get along just fine until they both met this guy.

As you talk to more Spanish speakers, you’ll find that some words have more than one diminutive form, and this can vary between Spanish-speaking countries. For example, from pequeño you can form the diminutives pequeñito, pequeñico, pequeñín, pequeñuelo…

Spelling Changes

It is important to understand the spelling changes to learn how to form diminutives in Spanish.

1. Generally, when words end in –o or –a, the vowel is dropped and the suffix is added. When the word ends in a consonant (except for N and R), the word keeps the consonant before adding the suffix.

árbolarbolito
fácilfacilito

2. When the word ends in any accented vowel or in N, R, E, I, U, you should add –c– before the suffix.

cafécafecito
favorfavorcito

3. When the word is monosyllable or when it ends with two vowels, you should add –ec– before the suffix.

panpanecito
novionoviecilla

4. Finally, when the suffix starts with –i– or –e-, you should change the letters Z into C, G into GU or C into QU before adding the suffix.

nariznaricita
amigoamiguete
bocaboquita

Exercises

We have learned to how to form diminutives in Spanish by using some suffixes. Let’s do some exercises to practice.

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Categorized in:

GrammarVocabularyWord Formation