Uses of -ITO in Argentine Spanish

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,

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