Kilo Lingo
Spanish grammar Part of Chapter 40

CEFR B1-B2

3 min read

Test yourself (18 questions)

Spanish Diminutives and Augmentatives: -ito, -ón, -azo

By Michael McGettrick and Sergio Linares-HernandesUpdated 12 October 2026

-ito makes a word small, but more often warm or polite. -ón and -azo make it big, and -azo can also be a blow:

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Pick the right one

0/3

Choose the form that fits the English cue.

  1. Espera un , por favor. (just a moment, gently)

  2. La película fue un . (a smash hit)

  3. Salió y dio un . (slammed the door)

  • momentito. - Just a moment.
  • portazo. - He/She slammed the door.

Diminutives and augmentatives at a glance

the suffixWhat do the colours mean?

The whole page on one screen:

SuffixExampleEnglish
-ito, -ita a little house; a dear house
-cito cochecitoa little car; a pram
-illo, -illa a ticket window, a car window
-ón, -ona hombróna big, burly man
-azo exitazoa smash hit
-azo (blow) codazoa jab with the elbow
-ote, -otagreat big
-ucho, -ucha casuchaa hovel
The same smiling golden dog drawn three times side by side on the grass: a tiny one, a normal-sized one and a huge one that fills half the picture.
  3. perrazo

Un perrito (a little dog, or a dear one), un perro (a dog) and un perrazo (a great big dog).

Diminutives: small, but mostly warm

the suffixa spelling changeWhat do the colours mean?

The textbook job of -ito is to shrink. Its everyday job is to soften and endear:

BaseDiminutiveMeaning
a little house, a cosy one
a little dog, a puppy
momentitojust a moment (polite)
granny (fond)
a little bit
ahoritaright now, or in a bit
nice and slowly
cerquitanice and close

momentito is not a shorter moment. It is the same moment, asked for more gently:

  • ¿ momentito? - Could you wait just a moment?

The ending also goes on adjectives and adverbs, as and cerquita show:

  • cerquita. - The house is really close.

Which ending: -ito, -cito or -ecito

the suffixa spelling changeWhat do the colours mean?

The end of the word decides:

Word ends inAddExample
-o, -aswap: -ito
-e, -n, -r-cito cochecito
-e, -n, -r-cito amorcito
one syllable-ecito florecita
one syllable-ecito panecito

Spelling changes keep the sound of the last consonant:

  • from , and amiguito from .
  • tacita from : z becomes c before i.

Regions vary: Spain says panecillo for a bread roll, much of Latin America panecito. Both are understood everywhere.

Augmentatives: -ón, -azo, -ote

the suffixWhat do the colours mean?

Augmentatives make things big, and add admiration or a sneer:

SpanishEnglish
hombróna big, burly man
exitazoa smash hit
cochazoa fabulous great car
great big
comilóna big eater
preguntónsomeone who asks endless questions

-ón on a verb stem names a person by a habit: comilón from , preguntón from .

-azo: a blow

The same -azo also names a blow or a sudden hit, made with the thing in the base:

BaseBlowEnglish
codazoa jab with the elbow
portazoa slammed door
golpazoa heavy blow
  • portazo. - He/She left and slammed the door.

Pejoratives: -ucho, -uza, the sneer

the suffixWhat do the colours mean?

A small set exists only to disparage:

  • casucha - a hovel
  • gentuza - riff-raff

The same word can move from sneer to affection with the ending alone:

SneeringFond
  1. una casuchaa hovel
  2. una casaa house
  3. una casitaa dear little house

Frozen words and the gender flip

masculinefeminineWhat do the colours mean?

Some of these forms have frozen into words of their own. Learn them as new vocabulary:

  • pocket, not a little bagpocket, not a little bag
  • a sandwich (Spain)a sandwich (Spain)
  • a ticket windowa ticket window
  • an armchairan armchair
WordMeansNot
pocketa little
sandwicha little
ticket window, car windowa small
armchaira big

An augmentative can change the gender:

  • - the chair, but - the armchair.
  • - the spoon, but cucharón - the ladle.

The blows in -azo are always masculine, whatever the base: , but portazo.

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
casucha (cosy) -ucha sneers
pocito (a bit) c becomes qu
portón (a slam) portazoa portón is a big door, a gate
the augmentative is masculine
bolsito (pocket) a pocket is frozen:

What to do next

  1. Add -ito to any request you make today: momentito, .
  2. Do the word-build and the sort below.
  3. Then Spanish noun suffixes, for endings that make new words outright.

Practise: test yourself

Build the word

0/5

Build the diminutive or augmentative from its pieces.

  1. casa (a little house)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  2. poco (a little bit)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  3. coche (a little car, a pram)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  4. hombre (a big, burly man)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  5. puerta (a slammed door)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

Sort into groups

0/8

What does each ending add here?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Pick the right one

0/5

Choose the form that fits the English cue.

  1. Espera un , por favor. (just a moment, gently)

  2. La película fue un . (a smash hit)

  3. Salió y dio un . (slammed the door)

  4. Vive en una que se cae a trozos. (a wretched hovel)

  5. Guardé las llaves en el . (my pocket)

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Frequently asked questions

Do Spanish diminutives mean small or affectionate?
Both, and affection wins more often. can be a little house, but it is usually a house spoken of fondly. momentito is not a shorter moment than : it is a gentler way of asking someone to wait. is granny with affection, not a small grandmother. Context decides, and often both readings are there at once.
How do you know whether to use -ito, -cito or -ecito?
Look at how the word ends. A word in -o or -a swaps its vowel: , ; , . A word in -e, -n or -r usually takes -cito: , cochecito; , ; , amorcito. Many one-syllable words take -ecito: pan, panecito; , florecita. Regions vary, so you will hear alternatives, but these patterns are always understood.
Do Spanish augmentatives always mean bigger?
Size is the core, but not the whole story. hombrón is a big, burly man, but comilón is someone who eats a lot and preguntón someone who asks endless questions. And -azo has a second life naming a blow: codazo is a jab with the elbow, portazo a slammed door.
Can a diminutive become a completely new word?
Yes. Some have frozen into words of their own: is a pocket, not a little bag; is a sandwich (in Spain), not a little mouthful; is a car or ticket window. An augmentative can freeze too: is an armchair, and it is masculine although is feminine. Learn these as new vocabulary.
Does ahorita mean now or later?
It depends where you are. Ahorita is a diminutive of , and in much of Latin America it can mean right now or in a little while, so context decides. In Mexico especially, ahorita can mean I'm coming soon rather than this second. In most of Spain it is rare.