Spanish Nouns

The Spanish language has nouns that express concrete objects, groups and classes of objects, qualities, feelings and other abstractions. All nouns have a conventional grammatical gender. Countable nouns inflect for number (singular and plural). However, the division between uncountable and countable nouns is more ambiguous than in English.

Gender

Spanish nouns belong to either the masculine or the feminine grammatical gender.Butt, John, et al. ''A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish''. 6th ed., Routledge, 2019. Section 1.1.Kattán-Ibarra, Juan, and Christopher J. Pountain. ''Modern Spanish Grammar''. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2003. Section 2.1.Stein, Gail. ''Webster’s New World Spanish Grammar Handbook''. Wiley, 2015. P. 30. ''Gender'', in this case, refers to a grammatical system and is not necessarily connected with biological sex or gender. For example, ''la mesa'' 'table' is feminine despite there being nothing inherently feminine about tables. Adjectives and determiners agree in gender with their associated nouns. In a clause like ''las mesas grandes son más bonitas'' 'large tables are nicer', for instance, all adjectives and determiners associated with the head noun (''mesas'') must agree with it in gender. ''Mesas'' is feminine, so the article must be feminine too; thus, ''las'' is used instead of ''los''. The two adjectives, whether next to the noun or after the verb, have to agree with the noun as well. ''Grande'' 'large' is invariable for gender, so it just takes a plural marker (''grandes''). ''Bonito'' 'nice' can be marked for both gender and number, so ''bonitas'' is used with ''mesas''.

The question of whether ''-o'', ''-a'', and similar morphemes are inflectional gender morphemes is a matter of disagreement in grammars of Spanish. For terms like ''el hijo'' 'son' and ''la hija'' 'daughter', the terms seem to consist of a root like ''hij-'' and a suffix ''-o'' or''-a'' that determines the noun's gender. But for terms like ''el escritor'' 'the (male) writer' and ''la escritora'' 'the (female) writer', only the feminine form seems to have an inflectional gender morpheme. Some grammars assume a null gender morpheme for the masculine forms of such terms (e.g., ''escritor-Ø/escritora'') while others argue that such assumptions rely only on theoretical arguments and lack empirical grounds.

The masculine gender is inclusive and is used for plural forms of groups of both genders. For example, ''los niños'', grammatically masculine, may mean 'the children' or 'the boys'. The feminine gender is exclusive in the plural: ''las niñas'' 'the girls' refers only to girls, not children of both biological sexes or genders. However, some proponents of nonsexist language reform promote alternative forms with ''desdoblamiento'', such as ''los niños y las niñas'' or ''las niñas y los niños''.

The manner in which gender is assigned to nouns in Spanish works differently depending on which of two classes the noun belongs to. One class includes certain nouns referring to humans and animals, and the other class consists of nouns not in the first class.

Gender of certain nouns referring to humans and animals

Though the gender of most Spanish nouns is assigned arbitrarily, the gender of certain nouns referring to humans and animals are determined by biological sex and gender.Butt, John, et al. ''A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish''. 6th ed., Routledge, 2019. Section 1.2.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 2.1b. For this class of nouns, the masculine and feminine often take different forms. By convention, the masculine form is treated as the lemma (that is, the form listed in dictionaries) and the feminine form as the marked form. For nouns of this class with the masculine form ending in ''-o'', the feminine form typically replaces the ''-o'' with ''-a''. For example, ''el abuelo'' 'grandfather' becomes ''la abuela'' 'grandmother'. Exceptionally, some nouns of this class with the masculine form ending in ''-o'' lack a distinct feminine form. In these cases, the gender of the noun is marked only by the determiners or adjectives that agree with it. For instance, the feminine form of ''el soldado'' 'the (male) soldier' is ''la soldado'' 'the (female) soldier', with only the gender of the article (''el/la'') distinguishing them in this case. For nouns of this class with the masculine form ending in ''-or'', ''-ón'', ''-ín'', ''-és'', and ''-án'', the feminine form adds an ''-a''. For example, ''el doctor'' 'the (male) doctor' becomes ''la doctora'' 'the (female) doctor'. A few nouns ending in ''-e'' also take ''-a'' in the feminine such as ''el jefe'' and ''la jefa'' 'boss' and ''el presidente'' and ''la presidenta'' 'president'.

The remaining nouns in this class do not typically have distinct feminine forms, but the gender of the determiners or adjectives that agree with them still correspond to biological sex or gender. For instance, ''el artista'' refers to an artist who is male while ''la artista'' refers to an artist who is female. These nouns are called common gender nouns. Other examples include ''el/la periodista'' 'journalist', ''el/la testigo'' 'witness', and ''el/la estudiante'' 'student'.

For some nouns in this class called heteronyms (''heterónimos''), the masculine and feminine forms are distinct lemmas. Much as English has the distinct lemmas ''bull'' and ''cow'', for example, Spanish has the distinct forms ''el toro'' 'bull' and ''la vaca'' 'cow'. For these nouns, the masculine plural form is typically used for groups containing both male and female members. A group containing both actors (''los actores'') and actresses (''las actrices''), for instance, is referred to as ''los actores'' 'actors'. Exceptionally, an animal species may be represented by the feminine lemma rather than the masculine (much as the English ''goose'' can refer either to the species as a whole or specifically females of the species when contrasted with ''gander''). For example, ''la vaca'' can refer to the species 'cattle' or the female of the species 'cow', but ''el toro'' refers only to the male of the species 'bull'.

Notably, not all nouns that refer to humans and animals belong to this class of noun; thus, not all nouns that refer to humans and animals take different forms for the masculine and feminine. For example, ''la persona'' 'person' does not belong to this class and is always feminine, regardless of the sex or gender of the person. Similarly, ''la araña'' 'spider' does not belong to this class and is always feminine, regardless of the sex of the spider.Butt, John, et al. ''A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish''. 6th ed., Routledge, 2019. Section 1.3.

Gender of other nouns

In Spanish, nouns not belonging to the class described above form another class of noun. The gender of nouns in this other class are arbitrarily assigned. However, some general patterns help to predict the gender of nouns.Kattán-Ibarra, Juan, and Christopher J. Pountain. ''Modern Spanish Grammar''. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2003. Section 2.3. Notably, the endings of nouns give clues to their genders. For instance, nouns ending in ''-o'' are usually masculine. The exceptions are ''la dínamo'' 'dynamo' (also ''el dínamo'' in Latin America), ''la disco'' 'disco', ''la foto'' 'photo', ''la líbido'' 'libido', ''la magneto'' 'magneto' (also ''el magneto''), ''la mano'' 'hand', ''la moto'' 'motorcycle', and ''la radio'' 'radio' (also ''el radio'' in Latin America). Words ending in ''-aje'', ''-or'', ''-án'', ''-ambre'' or a stressed vowel are also typically masculine. The exceptions are ''la flor'' 'flower', ''el hambre'' 'hunger', ''la labor'' 'labor', and ''la pelambre'' 'patch of hair' (also ''el pelambre''). Nouns ending in ''-men'' or ''-gen'' are also often masculine, but there are exceptions, such as ''la imagen'' 'image'. Finally, nouns that both end in ''-ma'' or ''-eta'' and are derived from Greek are typically masculine.

Many grammars of Spanish suggest that nouns ending in ''-a'' are feminine, but there is no requirement that Spanish nouns ending in ''-a'' be feminine. Thus, grammars that pose such a requirement also typically include a long list of exceptions, such as ''el alerta'' 'alert', ''el bocata'' 'sandwich', el caza 'fighter plane', and many others. More reliable markers of feminine nouns are ''-ez'', ''-eza'', ''-ción'', ''-ía'', ''-sión'', ''-dad'', ''-tad'', ''-tud'', ''-umbre'', ''-ie'', ''-nza'', ''-cia'', ''-sis'', and -''itis''. The exceptions for ''-ez'' are ''el ajedrez'' 'chess' and ''el pez'' 'fish', and the exceptions for ''-sis'' are ''el análisis'' 'analysis', ''el éxtasis'' 'ecstasy', ''el apocalipsis'' 'apocalypse', ''el paréntesis'' 'parenthesis', and ''el énfasis'' 'emphasis'.

Though the gender of nouns in this class does not correspond to biological sex, it can mark other kinds of differences. For example, gender marks the difference between a tree (typically masculine) and its fruit (typically feminine). Thus, ''el almendro'' and ''el cerezo'' refer to 'almond tree' and 'cherry tree', respectively, while ''la almendra'' and ''la cereza'' refer to 'almond' and 'cherry', respectively.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 2.3g. In many cases, these patterns with specific nouns can be traced to a common hypernym.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 2.10a. For example, ''el almendro'' and ''el cerezo'' are masculine because the hypernym ''el árbol'' 'tree' is masculine. The following table lists some of these patterns.

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The gender of nouns in this class may also mark distinctions related to size and shape, such as the distinction between ''el cántaro'' 'pitcher' and ''la cántara'' 'large pitcher'. Further, some polysemic nouns can be distinguished by their gender. For example, ''el margen'' (masculine) means 'margin' while ''la margen'' means 'river bank'.Kattán-Ibarra, Juan, and Christopher J. Pountain. ''Modern Spanish Grammar''. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2003. Section 2.4. Similarly, ''el cura'' (masculine) means 'priest' while la ''cura'' means 'cure'.

Like all nouns in Spanish, borrowed nouns must also be masculine or feminine, even when the nouns are borrowed from languages that lack grammatical gender. In these cases, nouns referring to certain humans and animals behave as expected (taking their gender from the biological sex or gender of the referent), but there are no formal rules that determine the gender of borrowed nouns of the other class. Generally, a borrowed noun in this class will be feminine if it resembles a more established feminine noun in form or meaning or, less reliably, if it is grammatically feminine in its language of origin. For example, ''la boutique'' 'boutique' is a borrowing from French, in which it is also feminine. Further, its meaning is similar to more established Spanish noun ''la tienda'' 'shop', which is also feminine. ''La app'' 'app (in computing)' is a borrowing from English, which lacks a robust system of grammatical gender. It is generally treated as feminine in Spanish because it is similar in form and meaning to ''la aplicación'' 'application', which is also feminine. Borrowed nouns of this class that do not meet these criteria are typically treated as masculine. For example, ''el aftershave'' 'aftershave' cannot inherit a gender from its language of origin (English) and is not sufficiently similar to a more established Spanish noun, so it defaults to masculine.

Variation

The gender of some nouns in Spanish are subject to variation. It is rare that the same speakers use these nouns in both genders without difference in meaning; that is, speakers do not just pick a form at random, but rather, something about the speaker or the intended meaning leads one gender or the other to be preferred in a particular context. For example, ''mar'' 'sea' is typically masculine but may be feminine for those who work on or near the sea, especially in the context of that work. Similarly, ''radio'' 'radio' is feminine for many speakers in Spain but masculine for speakers in many parts of Latin America. ''Internet'' causes speakers to hesitate between making it masculine like other loanwords from English, or making it feminine to agree with ''red'', 'net'. Meanwhile, ''azúcar'' 'sugar' can be masculine with ''el'', feminine with ''la'', or feminine with ''el'' (perhaps as a carry-over from Old Spanish, in which the singular definite article was invariably ''el'' before nouns beginning with ''a-'', regardless of gender ''and regardless of stress''). ''Arte'' 'art' is masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural, though it can be feminine in the singular when it means 'art-form' and masculine in the plural in the expression ''los artes de pesca'' 'fishing gear'.

Vestiges of the neuter

Spanish has vestiges of a neuter gender; this is seen in pronouns like ''esto'', ''eso'', ''aquello'', and ''ello'', some instances of pronoun ''lo'', and the article ''lo''. Bello also notes that words such as ''nada'', ''poco'', ''algo'', and ''mucho'' can be used as neuters in some contexts. However, all this doesn't affect nouns, which never have a ''neutral'' gender.

Gender of proper nouns (names)

People's names agree with the sex of the person, even when the name ending might seem the opposite: ''Chema es guapo'', ''Amparo es guapa''. The same rule applies to those animals which have a name.

Names of settlements

The gender of geographical names has no fixed rules, there are just tendencies:
* Names ending in ''-a'' are typically feminine, otherwise they tend to be masculine:
**''la Barcelona de Gaudí''
**''el Londres de Dickens''
* Sometimes the gender agrees with the underlying noun ''el pueblo'' or ''la ciudad'':
**''la gran Nueva York'' (city)
**''la antigua Cartago'' (city)
**''Fraga es pequeño'' (village/small town)

In ''Nueva York'' (New York), the feminine ''nueva'' is a fixed part of the name, however it's still possible to deal with the name as masculine, though feminine would be more common. New Mexico is translated as ''Nuevo México'' and considered masculine, since ''México'' is a masculine noun.

Number

Spanish has two grammatical numbers: singular and plural.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 3.1a. The singular form is the lemma, and the plural is the marked form. Whether a noun is singular or plural generally depends on the referent of the noun, with singular nouns typically referring to one being and plural nouns to multiple. In this way, nouns differ from other Spanish words that show number contrast (i.e., adjectives, determiners, and verbs), which vary in number to agree with nouns. In the clause ''aquellos intentos buenos resultaron vanos'' 'those good attempts were in vain', for example, the head of the noun phrase subject (''intentos'') gives its plural number to the other elements in the noun phrase (the determiner ''aquellos'' and the adjective ''buenos''). The plural number is also reflected in the form of the verb (the third-person plural ''resultaron'') and the predicative complement (the plural adjective ''vanos'').

Two or more nouns coordinated via the coordinator ''y'' 'and' are typically treated as plural for agreement purposes.Kattán-Ibarra, Juan, and Christopher J. Pountain. ''Modern Spanish Grammar''. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2003. Section 3.2.1. In the noun phrase ''el lápiz y el bolígrafo rojos'' 'the red pencil and pen', for example, the adjective ''rojos'' is plural because the two singular nouns (''el lápiz'' and ''el bolígrafo'') are coordinated via ''y''. In cases in which an adjective precedes the coordinated nouns, however, that adjective is usually in the singular form. For example, the adjective and both nouns are singular in the noun phrase ''enorme cuidado y precisión'' 'enormous care and precision'.

Some words are always grammatically plural. Much as the English nouns ''mathematics'' and ''eyeglasses'', for instance, are always plural, the Spanish nouns ''las matemáticas'' 'mathematics' and ''las gafas'' 'eyeglasses' are always plural. Some of these nouns do not share their always plural status with their English counterparts. For example, ''las vacaciones'' is rare in the singular form, corresponding to both 'vacation' and 'vacations' in English. Many of the always plural nouns fall into specific semantic classes. For example, many are related to foods (e.g., ''comestibles'' 'groceries', ''espaguetis'' 'spaghetti'), amounts of money (e.g., ''emolumentos'' 'emoluments', ''finanzas'' 'finances'), and places (e.g., ''estribaciones'' 'foothills', ''exteriores'' 'exteriors'). Other Spanish nouns are always singular. Such nouns are often noncountable nouns, such as ''el caos'' 'chaos' and ''la grima'' 'disgust'.

Plural formation

A noun that ends in an unstressed vowel adds ''-s'' to form the plural.Butt, John, et al. ''A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish''. 6th ed., Routledge, 2019. Section 2.1.Kattán-Ibarra, Juan, and Christopher J. Pountain. ''Modern Spanish Grammar''. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2003. Section 3.1.1. A noun that ends in a consonant (including ''y'') adds ''-es'' to form the plural. For nouns that end in ''-z'', the ''-z'' changes to ''-c-'' when the ''-es'' plural morpheme is added.Stein, Gail. ''Webster’s New World Spanish Grammar Handbook''. Wiley, 2015. P. 36. The noun ''la luz'' 'light', for example, has the plural form ''las luces'' 'lights'. A noun that ends in a stressed vowel will add ''-s'' or ''-es'' to form the plural. Generally, nouns ending in ''-á'', ''-é'', and ''-ó'' add ''-s'' to form the plural, while nouns ending in ''-í'' and ''-ú'' can admit both variants (''-s'' and ''-es'') to form the plural. For example, ''el café'' 'café' has the plural form ''los cafés'' while the noun ''el tabú'' 'taboo' has the plural forms ''los tabús'' and ''los tabúes''. Polysyllabic nouns that end in an ''-s'' following an unstressed vowel do not add an overt plural morpheme while other nouns ending in ''-s'' behave as expected for a noun ending in a consonant, adding ''-es'' to form the plural. For instance, the noun ''el jueves'' 'Thursday' has the plural form ''los jueves'' 'Thursdays'.

Loanwords

The formation of plurals for foreign words borrowed into Spanish do not always follow the same rules as more established Spanish nouns. As a general rule, borrowed words ending in a vowel (stressed or unstressed) will add an ''-s'' to the singular to form the plural. For example, the plural form of the English borrowing ''el interviú'' 'interview' is ''los interviús'' 'interviews'. English loanwords often keep their English plural forms in Spanish. For instance, ''el córner'' 'corner kick' has the plural form ''los córners'' 'corner kicks'. Many Latin nouns do not change in the plural at all (e.g., ''el confíteor'' 'confession' and ''los confíteor'' 'confessions') Some Latin nouns ending in ''-m'' may simply add ''-s'' to form the plural (e.g., ''el referéndum'' 'referendum' and ''los referéndums'' 'referenda/referendums'). Other Latin nouns ending in ''-m'' allow either an invariant plural form or a plural form ending in ''-s''. For example, ''el quórum'' 'quorum' allows the plural forms ''los quórum'' and ''los quórums''. Due to the influence of English, some plurals of Latin words in Spanish occasionally occur with the plural marker ''-a'', as in ''los córpora'' 'corpora' and ''los data'' 'data', but such plural forms are disprefered by some prescriptivists that favor either invariant plurals (e.g., ''los corpus'') or Hispanicized forms (e.g., ''los datos''). Some loanwords enter Spanish in their plural forms but are reanalyzed as singular nouns (e.g., the Italian plurals ''el confeti'' 'confetti', ''el espagueti'' 'spaghetti', and ''el ravioli'' 'ravioli'). These words then follow the typical morphological rules of Spanish, essentially double marking the plural (e.g., ''los confetis'', ''los espaguetis'', and ''los raviolis'').

Variation

In some varieties of Antillean Spanish, an additional ''-e'' or ''-es'' is added to the more traditional forms of certain plurals. For example, ''las cásase'' can be found in place of ''las casas'' 'houses'. Similarly, ''los güisquises'' can be found in place of ''los güisquis'' 'whiskies'.

In certain registers, nouns with plural referents can occur in the singular form when the plural is implied elsewhere, such as through the determiners ''mucho'' 'many' or ''tanto'' 'so many'. For example, a speaker might say ''mucha foto'' 'many photos' or ''tanto soldado'' 'so many soldiers' while a more formal register would require ''muchas fotos'' and ''tantos soldados'', respectively.

While nouns ending in ''-í'' often allow either ''-s'' or ''-es'' to form the plural, more formal registers typically prefer the ''-es'' ending, especially in demonyms and the names of ethnic groups. For example, ''bengalí'' 'Bengali' can take the plural form ''bengalíes'' or ''bengalís'', but ''bengalíes'' is typically preferred in more formal registers.

Affective suffixes

Suffixes expressing a wide range of affective meanings can be added to Spanish nouns. These affective meanings include size, affection, disapproval, irony, and the like.Batchelor, R. E., and Miguel Ángel San José. ''A Reference Grammar of Spanish''. Cambridge UP, 2012, . Section 75.1.1.Butt, John, et al. ''A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish''. 6th ed., Routledge, 2019. Section 43.1. However, the meanings of nouns derived from these suffixes is not always predictable. For example, a diminutive form of ''el coche'' 'car' is ''el cochecito'' 'baby carriage' while the diminutive form of ''el carro'' 'car' formed from the same suffix is ''el carrito'' 'shopping cart'. Some Spanish nouns can take a large number of affective suffixes, creating words with subtle differences in meaning or connotation. For instance, ''chico'' 'boy' has the derived forms ''chicarrón'', ''chicazo'', ''chicoco'', ''chicote'', ''chicuelo'', ''chiquete'', ''chiquilín'', ''chiquillo'', ''chiquitico'', ''chiquito'', ''chiquitín'' and ''chiquituco'', each with a subtle distinction in meaning.

Affective suffixes are derivational rather than inflectional, but they share certain properties with inflectional suffixes.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 9.1e. Like inflectional suffixes, affective suffixes are so widespread that words created from them tend not to be included in traditional dictionaries except when the resulting words have drastically different meanings. Also like inflectional suffixes, affective suffixes do not typically change the grammatical category of the base word; that is, a noun that takes an affective suffix will remain a noun after doing so, much as a noun that takes a plural inflectional suffix will remain a noun after doing so. But unlike inflectional suffixes, affective suffixes tend to add lexical, rather than grammatical, information to the base.

Certain kinds of nouns tend to disallow affective suffixes. Nouns that denote characteristics, qualities, and physical or mental states belong to this category. For example, ''altura'' 'height', ''bondad'' 'kindness', ''equilibrio'' 'equilibrium', and ''alegría'' 'joy' generally do not take affective suffixes. Some exceptions exist. For instance, the diminutives ''dudita'' and ''pasioncilla'' (from ''duda'' 'doubt' and ''pasión'' 'passion', respectively) are attested. Similarly, noncount nouns are less likely than count nouns to take affective suffixes. In the clause ''me fue de poca ayuda'' 'he was of little help to me', for example, the noun ''ayuda'' 'help' is modified by the adjective ''poca'' 'little' instead of taking a diminutive suffix because the clause uses a noncount sense of the noun. In the clause ''le pidió una ayudita'' 'he asked for a little help', on the other hand, the diminutive form ''ayudita'' is possible because the clause uses a count sense of the noun.

Various sociolinguistic factors affect the use of affective suffixes. For instance, they are generally used more often by speakers of Mexican Spanish than by speakers of European Spanish or Rioplatense Spanish and more often by women than by men. Additionally, affective suffixes are more common in registers directed toward children but less common in highly formal registers, such as in academic, legal, and administrative writing.

Three classes of affective suffixes are traditionally distinguished: diminutives, augmentatives, and pejoratives (though the class of pejorative suffixes occasionally intersects with the other two).

Diminutive suffixes

Diminutive suffixes generally convey small size. They most often indicate size when applied to nouns referring to material entities. Applying the diminutive suffix ''-ita'' to ''casa'' 'house', for example, produces ''casita'', which refers to a small house.

When diminutive suffixes are applied to nouns of other semantic classes, the suffix may convey additional or alternate meanings. Applying a diminutive suffix to nouns that refer to professions, for instance, often signals contempt, as in ''un maestrillo mediocre'' 'a mediocre teacher'. For nouns that denote actions and events, diminutive suffixes generally indicate short duration, as in ''paseíto'' 'short walk'.

The suffix ''-ito'' and its variants

The most common diminutive suffix is ''-ito'' and its variants ''-cito'' and ''-ecito'' (as well as their respective feminine forms ''-ita'', ''-cita'', ''-ecita'').Butt, John, et al. ''A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish''. 6th ed., Routledge, 2019. Section 43.2. The form of ''-ito'' used in the diminutive depends on both the gender and the pronunciation of the noun, and different varieties of Spanish occasionally follow different patterns.

In general, the -''ito'' variant is used with nouns ending in unstressed -''a'' or -''o''. For instance, ''casa'' 'house' forms the diminutive ''casita'', and ''libro'' 'book' forms the diminutive ''librito''. Exceptionally, in European Spanish, nouns ending in unstressed -''a'' or -''o'' generally takes the ''-ecito'' variant when the noun consists of two syllables and the stressed syllable contains the diphthong ⟨ie⟩ or ⟨ue⟩, as in ''hierbecita'' (from ''hierba'' 'grass') and ''jueguecito'' (from ''juego'' 'game'). This exception tends not to be observed in the Spanishes of America, where diminutive forms in -''ito'', such as ''hierbita'', are more common.

For nouns ending in unstressed ''-e'', the variant used depends on the number of syllables in the base. When the base has three or more syllables, the ''-ito'' variant is used to form the diminutive. For example, ''aceite'' 'oil' forms the diminutive ''aceitito''. When the noun ending in ''-e'' has fewer than three syllables, the diminutive is usually formed with the -''ecito'' variant. For instance, ''aire'' 'air' forms the diminutive ''airecito''.

Nouns ending in stressed vowels (specifically, -''á'' and -''é'') typically form the diminutive with ''-cito''. For example, ''té'' 'tea' forms the diminutive ''tecito''. Nouns ending in stressed -''í'', -ó, and ''ú'' do not typically allow diminutives. For instance, ''tabú'' 'taboo' does not have a diminutive form *''tabucito''. Exceptionally, some dialects of Spanish do allow diminutive forms of these nouns for certain words, as in ''ajicito'' from ''ají'' 'chili' in Caribbean and Andean Spanish.

Monosyllabic nouns ending in consonants use different variants of ''-ito'' depending on the dialect. In Latin American Spanish, the ''-cito'' form is typically used while, in European Spanish, the ''-ecito'' form is generally used. But even in Latin American Spanish, monosyllabic nouns ending in ''-s'' and ''-z'' tend to use the -''ecito'' form.

Polysyllabic nouns ending in ''-n'' and ''-r'' generally form diminutives with ''-cito'', as in ''empujoncito'' from ''empujón'' 'push' and ''amorcito'' from ''amor'' 'love'. Diminutive suffixes are not typically added to polysyllabic nouns ending in ''-d''. For instance, el césped 'lawn' does not have a diminutive form *el céspedito. Polysyllabic nouns ending in consonants other than ''-n'', ''-r'', and ''-d'' typically use ''-ito'' to form the diminutive, as in ''arrocito'' from ''arroz'' 'rice'.

The table below summarizes these typical patterns.

Generally, the diminutive suffix ''-ito'' is added to a noun more often than a noun is modified by ''chico'' 'small' or ''pequeño'' 'little'. Thus, ''una casita'' 'a small house' is generally encountered more often than ''una casa chica'' 'a small house'.

Regional diminutive suffixes

The choice of diminutive is often a mark of regional varieties and influence of coexistent Romance languages. The diminutive suffixes ''-ico''/-''ica'', ''-iño''/''-iña'' and ''-ín''/-''ina'', for example, are especially common in Asturias specifically and northwestern Spain more generally. They are also found in Argentina and Uruguay. The suffix ''-uco''/''-uca'' is often used in Cantabria.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 9.1l. The suffix ''-illo''/-''illa'' is especially common as a diminutive in Andalusia and southern Spain more generally. In the Spanishes spoken in the Americas, however, ''-illo'' often also carries a pejorative connotations. The noun ''hombrecillo'', for example, can be glossed as 'insignificant little man'. The suffix ''-ete'' is often used in Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia. Other regional diminutive suffixes include ''-eto''/''-eta'' (used in Aragon) and ''-uelo''/''-uela''.

Augmentative suffixes

Augmentative suffixes, such as the most frequently used ''-ón''/''-ona'', generally convey large size.Batchelor, R. E., and Miguel Ángel San José. ''A Reference Grammar of Spanish''. Cambridge UP, 2012, . Section 75.2.1.Butt, John, et al. ''A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish''. 6th ed., Routledge, 2019. Section 43.3. Compare, for instance, ''la silla'' 'chair' and the augmented ''el sillón'' 'armchair'. Because largeness sometimes carries negative overtones, augmentative suffixes sometimes carry negative associations, such as awkwardness, clumsiness, excess, and unpleasantness. For example, an augmented form of ''la soltera'' 'bachelorette' is the derogatory ''la solterona'' 'spinster'.

The augmentative suffix ''-azo'' is similar to ''-ón'' in that it is also often pejorative in addition to augmentative. An augmented form of ''las manos'' 'hands', for example, is ''las manazas'' 'clumsy hands'. However, ''-azo'' can also imply admiration or greatness. For instance, an augmented form of ''el éxito'' 'success' is ''el exitazo'' 'great success'.

The suffixes -''ón'' and ''-azo'' have uses in addition to their uses as augmentative suffixes. These uses are not traditionally grouped with affective suffixes in grammars of Spanish and include deriving nouns and adjectives from verbs (such as ''abusón'' 'bully' and ''mirón'' 'voyeur') and forming nouns that denote a blow or sudden movement (such as ''flechazo'' 'arrow shot' and ''hachazo'' 'axe blow').

In Mexico and Central America, ''-ote'' is generally preferred over ''-azo''. For example, the augmentative form of ''mano'' 'hand' is typically ''manota'' in Mexico and Central America but ''manaza'' elsewhere. Like with the diminutive suffix ''-ito'', ''-ote'' takes variant forms in certain environments. For example, the variant -''zote'' is used in the same contexts in which ''-ito'' would become ''-cito'', such as when a polysyllabic noun ends in ''-n'' (as in ''camionzote'' from ''camión'' 'truck').

The suffix ''-aco'' is also augmentative.

Pejorative suffixes

Though diminutive and augmentative suffixes occasionally add pejorative meanings in addition to other affective meanings, certain suffixes add meaning that is primarily pejorative. These suffixes include the following:

* ''-aco''/''-aca'', as in ''pajarraco'' from ''pájaro'' 'bird'.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 9.7q.
* ''-acho''/''-acha'', as in ''amigacha'' and ''picacho''.
* ''-ajo''/''-aja'', as in ''cintajo'' from ''cinta'' 'ribbon' and ''sombrajo'' from ''sombra'' 'shadow'.
* ''-astro''/''-astra'', as in ''camastro'' from ''cama'' 'bed' and ''poetastro'' from ''poeta'' 'poet'.
* ''-ato''/-''ata'', as in ''niñato'' 'immature child' and ''novato'' 'newbie'.
* ''-orrio''/''-orra'', as in ''bodorrio'' from ''boda'' 'wedding' and ''villorrio'' from ''villa'' 'town'.
* -''orro''/-''orra'', as in ''abejerro'' from ''abeja'' 'bee' and ''vidorra'' from ''vida'' 'life'.
* ''-ucho''/''-ucha'', as in ''animalucho'' from ''animal'' 'animal' and ''cuartucho'' from ''cuarto'' 'bedroom'.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 9.7p.
* ''-ute'', as in ''franchute'' (a derogatory term for a person from France).

References

External links

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Nouns
Declension