The suffixes -ITO/-ITA can be attached to nouns to make things smaller, and trust me when I say that we use them a lot.

In other Spanish dialects the suffixes are either -ILLO/-ILLA or -ICO/-ICA, but here it’s all about -ITO/-ITA.

Have ‘-ITOs’ already come across your path? There are thousands of endorphin triggers titled ‘videos de gatitos y perritos’ on social media, for example.

When we need someone for a quick question we ask:

• ¿Tenés un minutito? | ¿Tenés un segundito? | ¿Tenés un ratito?

My favourite use of diminutives is when we use them in a ‘shall we’ style. We apply them to a word to make guilty pleasures cute and harmless.

• ¿Abrimos un vinito?
• ¿Tomamos una cervecita?
• ¿Vamos a tomar un heladito?
• ¿Armamos un porrito?
• ¿Compramos unas facturitas?
• ¿Hacemos una picadita?
• ¿Querés un cafecito?
• ¿Comemos un asadito?

Still, diminutives can be heard in all contexts, beyond these examples.

Remember that when a word ends in e, i, u without accent or n, r, they must have the suffix -CITO/-CITA

• callecita
• calorcito
• ratoncito

That’s all for today. Time to put this down to use!

Happy Spanish learning,

You might also want to read these articles:

• How to go about with reading in Spanish
  In this post I want to make you want to read, even if you feel you’re not ready for it.
• Implied subject
  This post deals with a little tweak that can make your Spanish sound more natural —dropping the subject pronoun.
• Start Shadowing now!
  Today I’ll get you started with shadowing, so your Spanish speaking skills go through the roof.
• Argentinian Provinces and Demonyms
  This is a short geography lesson, where you’ll learn the name of the provinces and demonyms for each of them.
• Let’s in Spanish
  In this post we take a minute to see how Let’s phrases translate into Spanish.
• Papelón
  In this post we pay attention to a word that you can come across very frequently when referring to embarassing events.