Request pdf dialectal variation in spanish diminutives. They are categorized by the type of attribute they describe. In this article, were going to look at the type of suffix that changes the shade of meaning. In spanish, adjectives should match the noun in gender, that is, if the noun is masculine, then the adjective should be in the masculine form and if the noun is feminine, then the adjective should be in the feminine form. Spanish diminutive there are only a few diminutives in english like kitty, doggy. English examples are y in doggy or let in booklet the most common spanish diminutive suffix is itoita. These terminations in many cases substitute the use of adjectives to great. But the answer to that question depends on how one defines gender as a comparative concept. The use of diminutives in spanish often indicates that something is small. The rules arent hard and the tendency is that words ending. The third interpretation is whether the walman diminutive is an instance of a comparative concept of gender.
Just because something is diminutive in spanish doesnt necessarily. Sometimes they come before the noun see position of adjectives, but they must agree in gender and quantity. Here is your list of 100 spanish adjectives that you can practice everyday. The choice among the different suffixes is up to the person whos speaking, as it. The most common spanish diminutive suffix is itoita. My analysis of the diminutive in spanish suggests that its current multiplicity of. The following lists are just a sampling of adjectives in the english language. Unlike english, spanish diminutives can be applied not only to nouns gatito but to adjectives quietecito and adverbs rapidito. Diminutives and augmentatives diminutivos y aumentativos. Este quietecito is a nice way of telling someone to keep still.
Adding a suffix to the root of nouns, adjectives which agree in gender and number, and occasionally adverbs. The suffix not only indicates a diminutive size, but in some cases, it can add a nuance of affection, or soften the meaning of the actual word with words ending ino, a, io and ia, the rule is to remove these endings and replace with the suffix. Diminutives let, y and mini english grammar today a reference to written and spoken english grammar and usage cambridge dictionary. Students pretend to be magicians and use their powers to transform words into diminutive or augmentative according to their desire.
Different regions have their own unique ways of creating diminutives, but the most common one is a form of ito. Selection file type icon file name description size revision time user. The peculiarity of augmentative and diminutive terminations with the exception of the augment. An alternative formation is using cito or cita keep in mind that diminutives also agree with the gender of the noun in question. The use of the diminutive suffixes itoa and illoa in the spanish translation of.
In the examples below, the spanish adjectives come after the nouns they describe. The form classes of spanish nouns also adjectives and adverbs, not. Adding these suffixes creates the comparative and superlative forms. Diminutives in spanish are words whose suffix slightly changed their. Spanish has three sets of demonstrative adjectives, each of which has four different forms that vary by gender and number. Pdf morphologyphonology interface in spanish diminutive. Study spanish positive adjectives flashcards at proprofs. Everyone knows that while using the diminutive the most common ending is ito. The most common spanish diminutive suffixes are ito and cito along with their feminine equivalents, ita and cita. These terminations in many cases substitute the use of adjectives to great advantage, and are largely used by spaniards. Spanish diminutives ito and augmentatives ote colanguage. Learn about diminutives 1 in spanish while playing the spanish sentence quiz. Learn about adjective placement with fun practice quizzes.
For example, gato is cat, so gatito is a small cat or kitten. Use your dictionary or thesaurus to add to each list or use the complete list below this one. Pdf spanish diminutive formation is a type of morphological derivation which is subject. That is, the diminutive derivation is applied by our subjects to substantives and adjectives in the same approximate proportion. Diminutives are suffixes that indicate small size, youth, affection or contempt. These general rules will help you form the diminutive, though there are always exceptions.
Many languages apply a grammatical diminutive to nouns, a fewincluding dutch, italian and russian for instancealso use it for adjectives. Dec 23, 2019 diminutive plural diminutives grammar a word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment. In english to avoid this gap we add the word little. Pdf the use of the diminutive suffixes itoa and illoa in the. Pages in category spanish diminutive adjectives the following 121. The diminutive derivation is a quite productive process in spanish, made by.
Spanish demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns. In english, noun diminutives mainly in the sense of a smaller version of something are generally formed by using adjectives. A contrastive study of english and spanish synthetic diminutives. The spanish diminutive form is used in order to express size, affection, youth or disdain. While many languages apply a grammatical diminutive to nouns, a few including dutch, spanish, latin, polish, macedonian, czech, russian and estonian also use it for adjectives in polish. They emphasize size or express shades of meaning like affection, amazement, scorn, or ridicule. Diminutivization in spanish is a very robust process that can potentially apply to all nouns and adjectives, and occasionally other words such as gerunds and adverbs.
To create a diminutive, drop the o or a from just about any noun and add ito or ita. This powerpoint is in spanish and goes in depth into how to form and use adjectives, augmentatives and diminutives in spanish. For example, this pizza is just as delicious as that pizza. Trask points out that the english language usually forms diminutives by suffixing y or ie, often to a reduced form of the source word, as in hanky for a handkerchief, doggie for dog and tommie for thomas. The most common spanish diminutive suffixes are ito and cito ita and cita for feminine mi plantita my little plant. This is known as a diminutive and we typically do it by adding a y or something similar to end of the word. This suffix is probably the most commonlyused diminutive suffix in the spanish language. Typically diminutives are formed by adding either ito or ita to the ending of a noun or adjective. Complete the sentence by selecting the correct word from the dropdown. Diminutives and augmentatives are formed by adding a suffix to the root of nouns, adjectives which agree in gender and number, and occasionally adverbs. A diminutive form abbreviated dim is a wordformation device used to express such meanings. How to master spanish diminutives in 10 minutes baselang.
In this weeks spanish lesson we are going to look at the use of diminutive suffixes. The olympics of diminutives is won handsdown by the italians, who have literally dozens of different forms of the diminutive, each conveying its own special nuance of feeling for the noun undergoing the. No worries, you can also download the most common spanish adjective list in pdf and audio mp3. Spanish program content basic course program espanol internacional levels 1 and 2 communicative competence at the end of this program, the students will be able to communicate at a basic level and to interact in social and business situations according to the outline below. The most common spanish diminutive suffixes are ito and cito ita and.
Pages in category spanish diminutive adjectives the following 121 pages are in this category, out of 121 total. The rules arent hard and the tendency is that words ending in a, o or te form the diminutive by dropping the final vowel and adding ito or ita, while cito or ecito are added to other words ending in e. The choice among the different suffixes is up to the person whos speaking, as it especially depends on their geographic origin. Diminutives and augmentatives spanish class activities. It is normally used to talk about something within reaching distance of the speaker. A performance model while the diminutive form of most spanish words is invariant, a great deal of variation is found in bisyllabic words. Jan 27, 2018 spanish speakers frequently use the diminutive suffixes such as ito not only to indicate size but also to make a word less harsh or to indicate affection. Keep on reading and you will learn other ways to use it. Diminutive forms of adverbs are used to express either benevolence in the speech or on the contrary to express superciliousness, depending on the inflection of a whole phrase. Demonstrative adjectives in spanish demonstrative adjectives specify objectspeople or clarify how close something is to another noun or pronoun. Because formation and use of diminutives and augmentatives varies greatly from one region to another, there are very few established rules about this aspect of the spanish language. Learning the most common spanish prefixes and suffixes is a fantasic shortcut to unlocking hundreds of new spanish words overnight before we list these words out, its important to understand a little more about spanish prefixes and suffixes.
Spelling verbs nouns nouns verbs from the noun to the verb nouns feminine, masculine, plural words ending in te find the right word verb noun. There are only a few diminutives in english like kitty, doggy. In case of adjectives the use of diminutive form is aimed to intensify the effect of diminutive form of a noun. Demonstrative pronouns in spanish demonstrative pronouns in spanish use an accent mark on the first e to replace the noun that. In english we will occasionally alter words to indicate smallness or show affection. However, in certain countries, you will also see icoica when the last letter of the affected word is a t. It shows several pictures explaining the way we use spanish adjectives in questions and. Quality adjectives list shining glistening dazzling glowing gleaming twinkling sparkling glimmering shimmering glittering brilliant lustrous radiant vibrant vivid dark gloomy shadowy dim murky obscure shady. The rules well explain later in this article will be the same whether it be a noun, an. A diminutive is a word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. Adjectives usually come after the noun they describe. In the majority of spanish words that undergo diminutivization, there is not crossdialectal variation. The ending of the diminutive needs to match the gender of the object or person about whom. Dont think that they are only used to indicate something that is small.
On the list of 4,800 adjectives, a few special categories are marked with the following numbers. Some diminutives of proper names, among many others. Spanish diminutives, augmentatives, and more spanish411. Este is used to describe a noun that is close to the speaker and listener. In theory, these suffixes can be added to almost any noun, and they are sometimes used with adjectives and adverbs as well. Unlike in english, where adjectives have only one form, spanish adjectives change form to agree with the gender of the noun they modify masculine or feminine and the number indicated by the noun plural or singular. To create the diminutive form add the suffix itoita,icoica, illoilla, inina at the end of the word. Weve got diminutives, augmentatives, pejoratives, and more. A diminutive in spanish is a word with an added suffix that slightly changes. Spanish adjectives that are derived from a base word to convey endearment, small size or small intensity. Caja box cajita little box gato cat gatito kit cat. The rules arent hard and fast as to which suffix is used.
When altering words to indicate smallness or show affection, this is know as diminutive. It also includes concepts like adjective placement, shortened adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, possessive adjectives and ordinal numbers in spanish. Crosslinguistic categories, comparative concepts, and the. The forms ending in a are used when adjectives refer to female human. Lesson aumentativo diminutivo this lesson includes. Surprisingly, out of 4,800 adjectives, only about 500. In spanish, adjectives usually come after the nouns they describe. Spanishdiminutives wikibooks, open books for an open world. Just click on the big yellow button to download the spanish learning package. Spanish words for diminutive include diminutivo and diminuto. Just as you can imagine someone referring to a 6foottall adult son as my little boy or to a fullgrown beloved pet as a doggy, so it is that the spanish diminutives, although often translated using the english word little, often. As the word indicates, augmentatives are used to makke bigger something, usually express something large or. A common exception, among a few others, is the usage of the suffix.
Augmentative and diminutive suffixes study spanish free. When you wish to add a diminutive suffix, you need to keep a few things in mind. Unlike english, spanish diminutives can be applied not only to nouns gatito but to. The most common spanish diminutive suffixes are ito and cito ita and citafor feminine mi plantita my little plant. Most spanish adjectives end in o in their masculine form and a in their feminine form. Adjectives in spanish adjectives describe nouns people, places, things, or ideas. Spanish adjective match key write the letter for the english translation in the line before each spanish adjective. Roman sharonov rose unchallenged to head a corner wide, while diminutive winger gokdeniz karadeniz ghosted in with a diving header from the edge of the sixyard box that was acrobatically kept out by. To form a diminutive, you need to drop the o or a from any noun and add ito ita, which is the most common diminutive ending. Diminutives are much more common in spanish than they are in english. Then were going to list a load of suffixes that group together certain types of words.
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