Learning new vocabulary can seem like a daunting task for any language learner.
This is why we’re going to look at some tips and tricks to help you expand your vocabulary in an easy and straightforward way, so that you can gain more confidence in your Spanish. To do this, we are going to be looking at three suffixes, or word endings.
The Coffee Break Spanish Show is a podcast series of short, informal conversations to help you understand some difficult topics in Spanish. In the latest episode, Anabel and Concha dive into vocabulary and, in particular, how to form new words from words you already know by using three suffixes.
Continue reading to find out more and why not listen to the podcast episode as you go?
1. -mente
In English, one way to create adverbs is to take an adjective and adding “-ly”. For instance, we get “quickly” from “quick” and “positively” from “positive”. And the good news is that something very similar happens in Spanish!
In order to create our adverb, we need to take an adjective (for example rápido – “quick”) and use the feminine form (rápida) to add the ending -mente. In this way, we get rápidamente, which means “quickly”. If it’s an adjective that doesn’t change in gender (for example difícil – “difficult”), we just add the suffix to it (for example difícilmente – “with difficulty”). Fácil, ¿verdad?
Now, we challenge you to give yourself 10–20 seconds to write as many Spanish adverbs ending in -mente as you can! You can find a list of some examples at the end of this article. ¡Buena suerte!
2. -dad
Another tip that can help us learn new vocabulary is the fact that some words ending in “-ity” in English end in -dad in Spanish. For example, “positivity” is positividad. Note the i that comes before -dad in order to help the pronunciation.
Here’s a really handy tip for you: all words ending with the suffix -dad are feminine.
Now, try coming up with as many Spanish words ending in -dad as possible in 10–20 seconds. Again, you can find some examples at the end of the article. ¡Mucho ánimo!
3. -ito/a
One of the most common suffixes in Spanish is -ito or -ita. There are a couple of things we need to know about this suffix, however.
First of all, -ito can be interchanged with -illo, -ico, -iño or -ete, depending on the Spanish-speaking area. Moreover, some speakers may prefer one over another, so it may be personal preference. All of them work in the same way, though.
The second thing we need to know about these suffixes is that they are added to the end of a noun to show it is small, or adorable, or both.
For example, if you want to say “small house”, we say casita (casa + ita), but if you want to say “cosy / homey house”, we say casita, too.
As you can see in the example, we have taken a feminine noun (casa) and added -ita. When using a masculine noun (for example libro – “book”), we use -ito. For example:
librito
small / cute book
Now, can you think of some more nouns and add this suffix to say it’s either small or adorable (or both)? Once you have taken 10–20 seconds to think of some -ito/an examples, have a look at the examples we’ve provided at the end of the article. ¡Mucha suerte!
Conclusion and answers
We hope that you feel you’ve expanded your vocabulary and have learned a few ways to continue to do so.
If you found this article interesting, make sure to listen to the full episode with Anabel and Concha on The Coffee Break Spanish Show. This is the series in which we look at a range of topics for Spanish learners, so make sure to subscribe to our podcast feed and our channel on YouTube.
Plus! To get regular free Spanish lessons in your inbox, you can sign up for our short (coffee-break-sized) email lessons that will help you improve your Spanish. You will also hear from Mark, the founder of Coffee Break Languages, giving advice for language learners at any level. Sign up below!
Happy Coffee Breaking!
PS. Here is a selection of examples using each suffix.
Adverbs using -mente:
- ligero > ligera > ligeramente (“lightly”)
- constante > constantemente (“constantly”)
- simple > simplemente (“simply”)
- alegre > alegremente (“happily”)
- triste > tristemente (“sadly”)
- afortunado > afortunada > afortunadamente (“fortunately”)
- cortés > cortésmente (“politely”)
- cálido > cálida > cálidamente (“warmly”)
Nouns ending in -dad:
- festividad (“festivity”)
- caridad (“charity”)
- natividad (“nativity”)
- negatividad (“negativity”)
- incompatibilidad (“incompatibility”)
- familiaridad (“familiarity”)
- productividad (“productivity”)
- creatividad (“creativity”)
- responsabilidad (“responsibility”)
- intencionalidad (“intentionality”)
- comunidad (“community”)
- dignidad (“dignity”)
Nouns using -ito/a:
- regalito < regalo (“gift”)
- arbolito < árbol (“tree”)
- cuadernito < cuaderno (“notebook”)
- comidita < comida (“food / meal”)
- tacita < taza (“mug”) (Here, we can also see a change of spelling in the word, just to keep the pronunciation of the th or s sound.)
- videito < video (“video”)
- ropita < ropa (“clothes”)
- manzanita < manzana (“apple”)
- poquito < poco (“a little bit”) (We change c > qu to keep the hard k sound.)
- abriguito < abrigo (“coat”) (Note the spelling change g > gu to keep the same g sound.)
- agüita > agua (“water”) (Note the spelling change to show that the u is pronounced.)
Sometimes, we add ec between the base noun and the suffix (or just c if the noun ends in -e). Some examples are:
- solecito < sol (“sun”)
- nubecita < nube (“cloud”)
- cochecito < coche (“car”)
- cafecito < café (“coffee”)
