The diminutive

The Diminutive

introduction

In Spanish, most nouns can add them to a suffix ("-ito", "-illo", etc..) To become diminutives:

 puppy ➜ dog or puppy

In English there is no general to form the diminutive suffix applies to all nouns. 

To compensate for this lack the English have 2 options: 

Add a suffix (applicable to a few nouns) 

Putting a word (always applicable)

Diminutive suffixes

The most common suffixes are:

• -y (dad ➜ daddy) (indica afecto)
• -let (book ➜ booklet)
• -ling (cat ➜ catling)

Diminutive suffix '-y'

One of the most common suffix is "-y", the diminutive formed connotes affection, and is widely used in children's vocabulary:

Diminutivo	Significado	Procedencia
Bunny	conejito	bun
Diminutivo	Significado	Procedencia
Doggy	perrito	dog
Dolly	muñequita	doll
Horsey	caballito	horse
Piggy	cerdito	pig

Sometimes this suffix is ​​also written as "-ie" instead of "-y"

aunt ➜ auntie (también es válido "aunty") 
tía ➜ tita

Diminutive suffix-let

Another suffix to form the diminutive is "-let". This suffix is less common, we show the most frequent words:

Diminutivo	Significado	Procedencia
Booklet	folleto (no librito)	book
Coverlet	colcha	cover
Droplet	gotita	drop
Leaflet	folleto (no hojita)	leaf
Owlet	mochuelo	owl
Piglet	cerdito	pig
Starlet	estrella	star
Streamlet	arroyo	stream
Treelet	arbolito	tree

Diminutive suffix "-ling"

The suffix to form the diminutive is "-ling" says: 

➜ young animal specimen

cat ➜ catling
gato ➜ gatito (cría)

spider ➜ spiderling
araña ➜ cría de araña

pig ➜ pigling
cerdo ➜ cerdito

duck ➜ duckling
pato ➜ patito

For family or similar ➜ love, affection

daughter ➜ daughterling
hija ➜ hijita

son ➜ sonling
hijo ➜ hijito

dear ➜ darling
querido ➜ cariño

For other people it may be derogatory ➜

seed ➜ seedling
semilla ➜ planta de semillero

castle ➜ castling 
castillo ➜ enroque

Putting a word

Because in English there is no general to form the diminutive suffix, the general form usually valid for all nouns is to add one of these words:
little (little emotionally follows: affection, affection)

little table
mesita

little boy
niño pequeño

small (small and emotionally neutral)

small glass
vasito

baby (young calf)

baby corn 

small corn cob