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Old 01-29-2008, 03:32 PM   #7
exxcéntrica
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob6831
Thanks, Tania, but help me understand the dimunitives better.
So, for your examples, you are saying 'small meal', 'small grand-mother/grand-father', 'small house', but they don't really mean small, like in a small-bodied grand-father or a little house?

Well, a diminutive is either endearing or used for smaller things.

casa=casita

Can mean:

Tengo una csita en el campo. (I have a small house in the countryside)

Me voy a mi casita para descansar (I am going home to rest)

With persons usually endearing:

Papá=papito

Mamá= mamita

Abuela= abuelita

But it may mean smaller, younger

Mi hermanita solo tiene 3 meses.
Quote:
Also, are they used only on 'o' or 'a' ending words, and can they be used on any of these words?
Thx.

Yes, with any word.

Feminine words end in a, masculine in o.

la casa, la casita

el abrigo, el abriguito

el paquete, el paquetito
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