The Everything Spanish Grammar Book: All The Rules You Need To Master Espanol (Everything®) (34 page)

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–izo
an adjective suffix that connotes uncertainty or incompleteness of a quality (English equivalent is –ish); signals what something is made of

•
–mente
a common suffix used to turn an adjective into an adverb; English equivalent is –ly

•
–or
a noun suffix that is often used to represent a profession or role; English equivalents include –er and –or

•
–oso
a suffix you can use to turn a noun into an adjective; English equivalent is –ous

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–tud
a noun suffix that often refers to a state of being; English equivalent is –ude

ESSENTIAL

Diminutives and Augmentatives

There are two groups of suffixes that deserve special attention—they are the suffixes that form diminutives and augmentatives. These are suffixes that can be added to a whole range of words and the resulting words don’t require a dictionary definition—the suffixes don’t change the word’s meaning, they simply signal additional information like size or the speaker’s emotional attitude.

Diminutive—Small

“Diminutive” means “small”; diminutive suffixes indicate small size, cuteness, or the attitude of endearment. The word
caja
means “box”;
cajita
is a little box, perhaps one of those ring boxes.
Perro
is a dog;
perrito
is “doggy.” As you can see, using a diminutive suffix can allow you to be more descriptive without resorting to adjectives.

The most versatile diminutive suffix in Spanish is
–ito
and its conjugated forms,
–ita, –itos,
and
–itas: conejito
(little bunny),
abuelita
(granny),
chiquitos
(little/cute boys),
abejitas
(litte/cute bees). Here are a few other diminutive suffixes commonly used in Spanish:

You can take almost any noun and give it a diminutive suffix. Even adjectives and, to a lesser extension, adverbs can take on diminutive endings:
viejito
(old),
rapidito
(quickly). However, be aware that diminutives are often considered “slangy” and should not be overused in writing or in formal speech.

QUESTION?

Augmentative—Large

The word “augmentative” means “enlarging” (to augment is to enlarge). Augmentatives are similar to diminutives, except that their endings carry a different tone—they indicate large size or the attitude of toughness or importance. For example,
hombre
is “man,” but add the augmentative suffix
–ón,
and the result is
hom-brón,
“tough guy.” Here’s a list of common augmentative suffixes:

FACT

Recognizing Cognates

Another way to improve your vocabulary is by learning how to recognize cognates—word pairs that look alike or are very similar in English and in Spanish. True cognates are cognates that also share a common or very similar meaning. For example, compare “attention” and
atención—
these two words have a similar spelling and share a similar meaning. And
exterior
is identical to the English “exterior.”

In the case of some Spanish cognates, it’s easy to see what they could mean in English. For example, if you encounter the word
cliente,
you’ll likely be able to guess that it’s a cognate of “client.” Likewise,
imposible
looks very much like “impossible,” though it’s pronounced slightly differently (the “e” isn’t silent).

Other cognate pairs aren’t as obvious, however, and you’ll need to practice guessing to be able to figure out the correct meaning. For example, it may not be immediately clear that
tra-ducción
is the Spanish cognate of “translation” or that
estudiar
is a cognate for “to study.”

Furthermore, some simple Spanish words have English cognates that we would consider old-fashioned words or even “vocabulary” words. Compare the following:

One important benefit of learning these cognates is that you’ll also improve your English vocabulary.

Commonly Misused Cognates

Although paying attention is to your advantage, it’s important to keep in mind that not all cognates are true cognates—that is, not all cognates actually have a common or similar meaning in English and Spanish. Many a student of Spanish has been mortified to learn that
embarazada
means “pregnant” and not “embarrassed,” as may be concluded. “Embarrassed” and
embarazada
are just one pair of false cognates. The following tables lists a few others.