A2 · The noun
Diminutives: -inho, -inha
It reaches adverbs too — and sozinho no longer means « a bit alone ».
At a glance
- Remember
- It says something about the speaker, not about the thing.
- Form
- casa → casinhalittle house
- Signal words
- -inho
- -inha
- -zinho
- bocadinho
- devagarinho
- Trap
- Wrong:O apartamento tem cinquenta metrinhos.Right:O apartamento tem cinquenta metros.
Your turn
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Now write it yourself4 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
The form
From the base form to the new form
Each row first says what the form expresses, then shows it in Portuguese: the base form before the arrow, the result after it.
| little house | casa → casinha |
| a nice coffee | café → cafezinho |
| just a moment | momento → momentinho |
| little hand | mão → mãozinha |
| nice and slowly | devagar → devagarinho |
| alone | só → sozinho |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
An unstressed final vowel drops.
Vivem numa casinha no campo.They live in a little house in the country.
Otherwise -zinho is attached.
Queres um cafezinho?Would you like a coffee?
It carries the tone, not the size.
Espera um bocadinho, faz favor.Wait just a moment, please.
The gender stays as it was.
Deu-me uma mãozinha com a mudança.He gave me a hand with the move.
Example sentences
Fica aqui mais um bocadinho.Stay a little longer.
A avó fez um bolinho para as crianças.Grandmother made a cake for the children.
Anda devagarinho, o chão está molhado.Walk slowly, the floor is wet.
Ele mora sozinho desde o ano passado.He has lived alone since last year.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
A diminutive is not a translation of « small ». For « a small house » you want uma casa pequena; casinha says something about the speaker's attitude and nothing about the square metres. The other direction matters more: dropped into a factual sentence, -inho quickly sounds condescending, and a sentence about measurements is the last place for it.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
-inho can be attached to almost any Portuguese noun: casa becomes casinha, café becomes cafezinho, momento becomes momentinho.
Size is rarely the point. Um cafezinho is not a smaller cup but a friendly one; espera um bocadinho is « hang on a moment » and not « wait a small amount ». English has to spend a whole extra word on that — « just », « a quick » — and Portuguese spends four letters.
The form depends on the end of the word. After an unstressed vowel that vowel drops: casa gives casinha. Otherwise -zinho is added: café gives cafezinho, mão gives mãozinha.
And it reaches beyond nouns, which is where English has nothing left at all. Adjectives and even adverbs take it: devagarinhois « nice and slowly »sozinhois « alone » That last one has become a word in its own right — it no longer means « a bit alone », it is simply the ordinary way to say it.
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