Diminutives in European Portuguese

Today we’re going to look at diminutives. But what exactly are they?
DiminutivosDiminutives are usually used to describe an object or a person as small or cute. They can also be used to express affection or pity towards someone/ something. Depending on the tone, they can also be used sarcastically.
We often use diminutives when we refer to children, but adults also use them to express love and tenderness, or simply to give a word a “smaller” connotation.
The diminutive is, in fact, one of the three degrees nouns can have. The other two are: normal (the noun itself) and the augmentative.
Although, grammatically, they are exclusive to nouns, in spoken language, diminutives can be used with adjectives as well, which often happens in informal situations.

Diminutives in English

In the English language, the most common diminutives are formed by adding the prefix mini- or by adding suffixes such as –let, -ling, -ette, and –y/-ie.
For example:

• Doggy, mommy, daddy (terms of familiarity and warmth);
• Darling (terms of endearment);
• Booklet, piglet (emphasizing the smallness);
• Miniskirt, minibus (showing that something is smaller or shorter than usual).

Diminutives in Portuguese

In Portuguese, diminutives are used in the same types of context. They play a large role in the Portuguese language by bringing emotion and feeling into words. Almost any noun or adjective can be made “small” by adding the appropriate suffix! That’s why it’s so useful to learn them. Both diminutives and augmentatives can also be employed as an alternative to adverbs such as muitoa lot, very Slow audio Play audio Adverb or poucolittle, few Slow audio Play audio Quantifiers, Singular, Masculine .
In contrast, the English diminutives mentioned above are not really true diminutives because English employs them in a more limited and inconsistent way. For example, it wouldn’t be correct to say “breadlet” to refer to a small piece of bread , whereas pãozinho as a diminutive of pãobread would be perfectly fine in Portuguese.
In other words, diminutives are more common and rule-based in Portuguese. So how do we form them?

-inho / -inha

The most common diminutives are formed by adding the masculine suffix –inho or the feminine suffix –inha. This works for words ending in an unstressed –o or –a.
Replace the -o or -a at the end of the word with –inho or -inha.
Here are some examples:

• gatocat Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → gatinhokitten, small cute cat
• coitadapoor woman(pitiful sense) → coitadinhapoor little woman (pitiful sense)

Important note: words that end in -co or -ca use the ‘qu’ spelling in order to keep the ‘k’ sound.

• porcopig → porquinholittle pig (and not “porcinho”)
• cascapeel, shell → casquinhasmall peel, small shell (and not “cascinha”)

-zinho / -zinha

Words that end in a stressed vowels, consonant, or diphthong (2 vowels together) usually add –zinho (masculine suffix) or –zinha (feminine suffix).
Add –zinho or -zinha to the end of the word.
For example:

• irmãsister Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → irmãzinhalittle sister
• mãohand Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → mãozinhalittle hand
• dorpain → dorzinhaminor pain
• paustick Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → pauzinholittle stick

Words that end in -e (not stressed), as well as words with endings in –ia, –oa, –ua, –io also use –zinho/zinha:

• rioriver → riozinhosmall river
• praiabeach  → praiazinhasmall beach
• estátuastatue → estátuazinhasmall statue

With words that end in –m,  you have to replace the ‘m’ with ‘n’ before adding –zinho/zinha:

• viagemtrip → viagenzinhasmall trip

Important: nouns that don’t change with gender (invariable), do change in the diminutive, and practically all of them use the –zinho/zinha suffix. If you’re also using the plural, and the group has people of both genders, then the masculine is used.

• piratapirate → piratazinholittle pirate (male) & piratazinhalittle pirate (female)
• atletaathlete → atletazinhosmall athlete (male) & atletazinhasmall athlete (female)

When To Use Diminutives

So, in which contexts do we use diminutives?

To emphasize small size:

• pãoloaf of bread → pãozinhoroll, small piece of bread
• casahouse Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → casinhasmall house
• uma cervejaa beer → uma cervejinhaa small beer

To show affection or pity:

• meu anjomy angel → meu anjinhomy little angel
• a minha mãemy mother → a minha mãezinhamy dear mother
• coitadopoor thing → coitadinhopoor little thing

To lessen the importance of something:

• Ele tem uma gripezinhaHe has a little flu
• Tenho uma dorzinha de cabeçaI have a minor headache
• É um hotelzinho feioIt’s an ugly little hotel

To be sarcastic:

• Nós temos um probleminha...We have a little problem... (implying it's actually a huge problem)
• És tão engraçadinha!You're so funny! (female, sing.)

Nicknames:

The diminutive also works for people’s names:

• Pedro   → Pedrinho
• João Slow audio Play audio Proper Noun, Singular → Joãozinho
• Maria → Mariazinha
• Rui → Ruizinho

These often become nicknames, showing a degree of love and affection for the person. ❤️

For General Emphasis

There are certain situations in which the diminutive can be used to emphasize words rather than lessen or downplay them. Words such as tudinho – from tudoeverything Slow audio Play audio Pronoun, Singular – and nadinha– from nadanothing Slow audio Play audio Adverb, Singular –  are two examples.
If someone says Vais comer tudinhoYou'll eat everything what they imply is “you will eat absolutely everything”. Likewise, if a person says Não vou fazer nadinha hojeI'll be doing nothing today , they mean something like “I will be as lazy as humanly possible”.
The same is true for the word fartinho. Instead of saying Estou muito farto de ficar em casaI'm really tired of being at home , we can use the diminutive (and not augmentative) to say Estou fartinho de estar em casaI'm really tired of being at home . Despite being a diminutive, this means that fartinho actually has a “bigger” meaning than farto.

When NOT to Use Diminutives

Well, it’s not easy as a non-native speaker, because there aren’t any set rules. But let’s just say that diminutives don’t always mean what you think they’re going to mean! It takes time and exposure to the language to get comfortable with the different uses.
Check out this video to see what we mean! 🙈 Don’t Make This Mistake With Diminutives!
 

Alternative Diminutives

Many words can have two different diminutives: one that follows the ‘rules’ we’ve shown and other that’s formed by adding an alternative, less common suffix. Other words, however, have just one diminutive that uses one of those alternative suffixes. Some of these diminutives eventually became actual nouns (i.e. with a place in the dictionary) while retaining the same meaning as “small word”. Some of them are:
diabodevil   → diabretelittle devil
pequenosmall Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Masculine → pequenitoreally small
bandeiraflag → bandeirolasmall flag
bocamouth → boquitatiny mouth
casahouse Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → casitasmall house
estátuastatue → estatuetasmall statue
livrobook → livretesmall book
ruastreet Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → ruelalittle street
rioriver Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → riachosmall river
We use diminutives in Portuguese because they sound friendly, gentle, and informal. Learning how to use them can feel quite awkward at first, but with some practice, you will be able to use them frequently in your speaking. Later, we’ll learn about their opposites: augmentatives!