ABSTRACT
The diminutive form of nouns and adjectives is formed as follows:
With nouns and adjectives that end in unstressed -o, -a or -e, this final vowel is replaced with the ending -inho or -inha according to the gender of the word:
dedo ‘finger’ > dedinho ‘little finger’
casa ‘house’ > casinha ‘little house’
dente ‘tooth’ (masc.) > dentinho ‘little tooth’
fome ‘hunger’ (fem.) > fominha ‘slight hunger’
saco ‘bag’ > saquinho ‘little bag, sachet’
(NB: change of -c- to -qu- to preserve hard c sound)
bonito ‘handsome, good-looking’ > bonitinho ‘cute’
bonita ‘pretty’ > bonitinha ‘cute’
quente ‘warm’ > quentinho/quentinha ‘nice and warm’
brega ‘tacky, naff’ > breguinha ‘slightly tacky, naff’
(NB: change of -g- to -gu- to preserve hard g sound).
The ending -inho/-inha is also added to nouns and adjectives ending in -s or -z:
japonês ‘Japanese man’ > japonesinho ‘little Japanese guy’
voz ‘voice’ (fem.) > vozinha ‘little voice’.
With all other nouns, i.e. those ending in a stressed vowel, a nasal vowel, -l, -m, or -r, the ending -zinho/-zinha is added to the word. This also applies to nouns ending in -io or -ia:
papel ‘paper’ (masc.) > papelzinho ‘scrap of paper’
mão ‘hand’ (fem.) > mãozinha ‘little hand’
trem ‘train’ (masc.) > trenzinho ‘little/toy train’
(NB: change of -m to -n before the diminutive ending)
flor ‘flower’ (fem.) > florzinha ‘little flower’
tia ‘aunt’ > tiazinha ‘auntie’
melhor ‘better’ > melhorzinho/melhorzinha ‘a little better’.
259As the spoken stress is always on the i of the diminutive ending, any other written accents are dropped:
café ‘coffee’ > cafezinho ‘small black coffee’
só ‘alone’ > sozinho ‘all alone’
pássaro ‘bird’ > passarinho ‘little bird, birdie’.
With nouns ending in -l and those ending in -ão, the plural stem (plural form minus -s) is used before the diminutive ending when the diminutive itself is pluralized:
animal ‘animal’ > animalzinho ‘little animal’, but
animais ‘animals’ > animaizinhos ‘little animals’
pão ‘bread’ > pãozinho ‘bread roll’, but
pães ‘loaves’ > pãezinhos ‘bread rolls’
botão ‘button, bud’ > botãozinho ‘little button, little bud’, but
botões ‘buttons, buds’ > botõezinhos ‘little buttons, little buds’.
