Recognize smallness, affection and softened requests in everyday diminutive forms.
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Spanish diminutives ending in -ito and -ita
Casa becomes casita and perro becomes perrito. A diminutive can suggest smallness, affection or both; the context supplies the tone.
Keep the noun’s gender: la casita, el perrito. Review common nouns for the base forms.
la casitalittle house · lah kah-SEE-tah
el perritolittle dog · el peh-RREE-toh
el gatitolittle cat · el gah-TEE-toh
el libritolittle book · el lee-BREE-toh
la mesitalittle table · lah meh-SEE-tah
el hermanitolittle brother · el ehr-mah-NEE-toh
la hermanitalittle sister · lah ehr-mah-NEE-tah
el zapatitolittle shoe · el sah-pah-TEE-toh
Spanish diminutives with spelling changes
Chico → chiquito keeps the hard consonant before i by writing qu. Amigo → amiguito uses gu for the same reason.
Agua → agüita needs ü so the u is pronounced. Its initial a is no longer stressed, so the article is la.
chiquitovery small (diminutive) · chee-KEE-toh
el amiguitolittle friend · el ah-mee-GEE-toh
la agüitalittle bit of water · lah ah-GWEE-tah
el barquitolittle boat · el bahr-KEE-toh
el pedacitolittle piece · el peh-dah-SEE-toh
el pececitolittle fish · el peh-seh-SEE-toh
la lucecitalittle light · lah loo-seh-SEE-tah
la florecitalittle flower · lah floh-reh-SEE-tah
Common Spanish diminutives in conversation
Un cafecito may simply be a friendly invitation for coffee, not a tiny cup. Un momentito softens a request to wait.
Ahorita varies by region and context: it may mean right now or soon. It is not a reliable promise of an exact number of minutes.
el cafecitoa little coffee · el kah-feh-SEE-toh
el panecitolittle bread roll · el pah-neh-SEE-toh
un momentitojust a moment · oon moh-mehn-TEE-toh
un poquitoa little bit · oon poh-KEE-toh
la abuelitagrandma (affectionate) · lah ah-bweh-LEE-tah
el abuelitograndpa (affectionate) · el ah-bweh-LEE-toh
el corazoncitosweetheart (little heart) · el koh-rah-sohn-SEE-toh
ahoritaright now or soon (regional) · ah-oh-REE-tah
cerquitavery close by · sehr-KEE-tah
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Spanish Diminutives: full list
Review the meanings, pronunciation and usage notes, then use the printable worksheet to recall the Spanish.
Quick answer:little house is la casita, little dog is el perrito, little cat is el gatito, little book is el librito, little table is la mesita, little brother is el hermanito, little sister is la hermanita, and little shoe is el zapatito.
