Mainegirl... in brief
The rules for forming diminutives in Spanish are quite simple thus the irony that there are some common incorrect forms that have become part of everyday usage.
Diminutive endings are just suffixes that are added to nouns or adjectives. Suffixes denote a meaning and their forms and usage are regional. Some diminutive forms are more common in certain countries in comparison to others. For example
-ito vs.
-ico vs.
illo. Take your pick. I use 'ito' as a preference.
Formation is simple:
add the suffix to the ending (or stem) of a noun or adjective.
- noun. ?rbol= arbolito
- noun. herman[o]= hemanito
- noun. do?[a]= do?ita
- adjective- peque?[o]= peque?ito
Now 'cito', 'cita' are forms that are used to coincide with Spanish phonetic properties. Certain word endings would be impossible to pronounce or would change the original pronunciation of a word. Therefore there's an orthographic change. [c] is added to facilitate pronunciation or to
retain the 'original' pronunciation of the word in its non-diminutive form.
coche= cochecito. Without the [c] it would be 'cocheito' which is not correct and cumbersome to pronounce.
pedazo= pedacito. The [z] becomes [c] for phonetic reasons. Basic spelling rule in Spanish.
-Please note these are
basic rules and common diminutive endings. However, there are some irregular forms.
-Espero que te haya ayudado... me tengo que ir.
Saludos,
LDG.
'ey' Lesley please
MaineGirl said:
Leslie, what are other rules concerning the dimunitive?