A María siempre le había interesado la ciencia y le encantaba leer (1) librotes dificilísimos. Siempre decía: "Cuando sea (2) grandota voy a ser inventora". En el fondo de su (3) casita había un (4)
cuartito donde María hacía muchos experimentos.
Step-by-step explanation
A diminutive is a particle (suffix) at the end of the word to show that something is small, brief or of little importance. Like when we say:
- 'Es solo un tareíta y ya, no hay de qué preocuparse'. By replacing 'tarea' with 'tareíta' it is implied that, for the person who said it, the task is not very important, so it will not take long to complete it.
- '¡Qué lindo perrito!'. The dog that is mentioned may or may not be large, but this time it is used in the sense that the dog is very pretty and adorable, which is why this expression is used.
- 'Solo un poquito de pimienta'. Instead of 'little' to say that the amount has to be small, almost minimal.
- 'Este pastelito está muy rico'. in this case it is used to say that what is being eaten ('un pastel') is small, a small portion, and that is why it is called 'diminutives', because they make words tiny.
On the other hand, the augmentatives enlarge the words, either to say that they are larger, longer, longer, etc. Let's see some examples of the use of augmentatives:
- 'Este sí que es un carpetón'. Referring to the fact that it is a large folder that can be filled with many papers.
- 'Mi hijo es todo un hombretón'. To lovingly display the mature attitude of a child.
- 'Me leí este librote'. A large or big book.
- 'Él es un malote'. To refer to behaving in a way that goes beyond 'malo'.
- Some superlative adjectives like '-isimo' are also augmentative, like when we say 'esta comida está riquísima', instead of just saying 'esta comida está rica'.
Types of diminutive suffixes:
- '-ito' / '-ita': Prontito, rapidito, poquito, pelotita, gatita, perrito, sapito, sillita, mesita, abuelito, patatita, fresita, parquecito, casita, tacita...
- '-ico' / '-ica': Poquico, chiquitica, galletica, llorica, ayudica... (suele usarse de forma muy coloquial).
- '-ín' / '-ina': Chiquitín, maletín, pequeñina...
- '-illo' / '-illa': Palillo, telefonillo, cabecilla, pingüinillo...
Types of augmentative suffixes:
- '-azo' / '-aza': Plomazo, bombazo, panzazo, golpetazo...
- '-ón' / '-ona': Pisotón, palabrón, mesón, tragón, llorón...
- '-ote' / '-ota': Palabrota, pasote, muchachote...
- '-ísimo' / '-ísima': Fortísimo, riquísima, buenísimo
Transforming the following:
- libritos: It is the diminutive ffrom the word 'libros', so its augmentative is 'librote'
- grandecita: It is the diminutive from the word 'grande', so its augmentative is: grandota
- casona: it is the augmentative of the word 'casa', so its diminutive is: casita
- cuartote: it is the augmentative of the word 'cuarto', so its diminutive is: cuartito