Diseño del blog

31 march 2023

Ana del Río

How to use diminutives in Spanish

At Río Spanish School, in addition to teaching grammar or vocabulary, we show our students how the real spoken Spanish sound. One of the most practical and used resources in Spanish is the use of diminutives. 


The main and best-known function of the diminutives in Spanish is dimensional, that is, to explain that something has a small size:

- Excuse me, can you bring me a beer, please?

This person is ordering a small size beer, probably a half pint. As we can see in the following image, the form of the diminutive varies according to the geographical area. On this occasion, we will focus on Spain and we will not pretend to be exhaustive, since there are many local variants. Write in comments which is the most common in your town!


diminutives in spanish, diminutivos en español


In addition to reducing the size, the suffix can express other types of qualities, such as affection. In the following example, we can see how a Galician emigrant uses the diminutive to express the affection he feels for Galicia, his land:


- ¿Qué tienes pensado hacer este verano?

- Iremos a la Tierriña, nos apetece sentirnos en casa.




It is also very common to use the diminutive to sound nicer or cuter. If you travel to Galicia, wherever you go you will hear the diminutive of thanks: graciñas.



Many times, we use the diminutive to intensify a quality, although this seems contradictory. Look at the following example and notice how the movie was really long for that person:


- ¿Te ha gustado la película?

- Bueno... Era larguilla eh. Casi tres horas...



Another very curious use is that of irony, when we want to express the opposite of what we are saying.


- Se te olvidó comentarme un detallito sin importancia...


For this person, that detail was important, perhaps he was the only person in a costume at a party or at work on Carnival day.



Finally, today we will highlight another use of the diminutive, which is derogatory and which is usually associated with quite fixed expressions. For example:


- Este programa de famosillos es malísimo, ojalá lo cancelen pronto.


Whoever uses the word famosillo does so with the intention of accentuating what appears to be a lack of justice, since these people should not be famous and, furthermore, if they are, it is not for a good reason.


We encourage you to incorporate the use of diminutives to make your Spanish sound more natural and speak with a true native.

Explore our shop to find many teaching materials:

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