A2 · Nouns: gender, plural, compounds
Making things small: -chen and -lein
das Mädchen, das Häuschen, das Brötchen
Two endings that shrink a noun, turn it neuter and sometimes change its meaning entirely.
German makes a small version of almost any noun with -chen or, more rarely and more poetically, -lein. The vowel takes an umlaut where it can: Haus → Häuschen, Buch → Büchlein, Hund → Hündchen.
Two things follow automatically and are worth more than the ending itself. The result is always neuter, whatever the original gender was — which is why das Mädchen is neuter although it means a girl, and why das Fräulein is too. And the plural is identical to the singular: ein Brötchen, zwei Brötchen.
The ending is not only about size. It carries affection (Mein Schätzchen), it belittles (dein Autochen), and in a great many words it has simply frozen into a new word that nobody feels as a diminutive at all: a Brötchen is a bread roll, not a small loaf, and a Mädchen is not a small maid.
Die Form
| -chen | das Häuschen, das Hündchen |
| -lein | das Büchlein, das Vöglein |
| gender | immer das: das Häuschen, das Mädchen |
| plural | ein Brötchen, zwei Brötchen |
| umlaut | Haus → Häuschen, Buch → Büchlein |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
A diminutive is neuter, whatever gender the base noun had.
der Hund → das Hündchenthe dog → the little dog
The stem vowel takes an umlaut where it can.
die Stadt → das Städtchenthe town → the little town
The plural is the same as the singular.
zwei Brötchen, bittetwo rolls, please
Both endings mean the same; -lein is older and more literary.
das Schwesterleinthe little sister
Genauer hingesehen
Where the ending has frozen
Many words ending in -chen are no longer felt as diminutives, and their base has often disappeared. A Märchen is a fairy tale, not a small piece of news; a Kaninchen is a rabbit with no larger version; a Veilchen is a violet. These are ordinary vocabulary and there is nothing to derive.
The one thing they keep is the grammar: neuter, and a plural identical to the singular. So even a frozen diminutive tells you two useful facts about itself before you know what it means.
Ausnahmen und Sonderfälle (2)
-
the noun already ends in -chen or -lein
no further ending is added.
das Küchlein, nicht: das Küchleinchenthe little cake
German does not stack the suffix.
-
the diminutive is used about a person
it can be affectionate or dismissive, and tone decides.
Na, mein Freundchen?Well now, my friend?
The same ending carries warmth and condescension, so it is risky in an unfamiliar setting.
Woran man es erkennt
- -chen
- -lein
- klein
- das
Beispielsätze
Wir haben ein Häuschen am See.We have a little house by the lake.
Möchtest du ein Brötchen?Would you like a roll?
Das Mädchen liest ein Buch.The girl is reading a book.
Warte ein Weilchen.Wait a little while.
Sie hat ein Kätzchen bekommen.She got a kitten.
Noch 6 Beispielsätze
Ein Gläschen Wein.A small glass of wine.
Das arme Tierchen.The poor little creature.
Ich mache ein Nickerchen.I am having a nap.
Wir wohnen in einem Städtchen.We live in a small town.
Sie erzählt ein Märchen.She is telling a fairy tale.
Noch ein Stückchen Kuchen?Another little piece of cake?
Besonderheiten (2)
-
Regions have their own endings
Southern German and Austrian use <z>-erl</z> (<z>Hunderl, Stückerl</z>), Swiss German <z>-li</z> (<z>Müsli</z>, literally a little mash), and the north <z>-ke</z> in some names. <z>Müsli</z> reached the standard language and kept its Swiss ending, which is why it looks nothing like a German diminutive.
-
It can be a whole rhetorical move
Adding <z>-chen</z> to something that is not small is how German makes a thing sound harmless or trivial: <z>ein Problemchen</z>, <z>ein Skandälchen</z>. The ending does the work that English would need a phrase for, and it is usually ironic.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
Every diminutive is neuter, and the meaning has no say in it. Das Mädchen refers to a girl and takes das, and a pronoun referring back to it is grammatically es — although in practice speakers usually switch to sie after a few words, because the sense wins over the form. Both are heard; the article, however, is fixed.
Every -chen and -lein is neuter, and its plural is itself.
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