When I first started speaking Italian, my speech was peppered with a lot of “moltos.” Things were molto grande, molto piccolo, molto brutto.

And while molto is a great way to express that something is really big or small or ugly, it isn’t the only way.

In Italian, you can add suffixes to nouns to indicate what kind of cat, house or girl you’re talking about. Is it an especially ugly house? A really little cat? A really big girl?

Nouns with these suffixes are called diminutive nouns, pejorative nouns or augmentative nouns. They help you convey your meaning without having to use a bunch of adjectives or “moltos.”

Diminutive nouns are nouns with suffixes that indicate smallness.

These suffixes are:

Masculine	Feminine
-ino	-ina
-icino	-icina
-etto	-etta
-ello	-ella
-erello	-erella
-otto	-otta

Masculine suffixes are used with masculine nouns; feminine suffixes are used with feminine nouns.

To add the suffix, remove the last vowel of the noun and just tack the suffix on the end.

-etto, -etta, -ello, -ella, -otto, -otta are diminutives but they have a pejorative and derogatory meaning, so be aware!

Per esempio:

– la casa (the house) becomes la casina (the little house)

– l’uccello (the bird) becomes l’uccellino (the little bird)

– l’uomo (the man) becomes l’ometto (the small man)
— This is an example of a diminutive with a pejorative exception.

– l’albero (the tree) becomes l’alberello (the small tree)

– il micio (il gatto or the cat) becomes il micino or la micina (the little cat)

– il fuoco (the fire in a fireplace) becomes il fuocherello (the small fire)

– il povero (the poor man or woman) becomes il poveretto/poverello when you want to indicate a state of poverty without being too offensive

 

Pejorative nouns are nouns with suffixes that indicate disgust.

You use these suffixes when you want someone to know that you feel that the subject of your speech is bad or ugly.

These suffixes are:

Masculine	Feminine
-accio	-accia
-astro	-astra
-ucolo	-ucola
	-iciattola

The same as before, masculine suffixes go with masculine nouns and feminine suffixes go with feminine nouns. Drop the final vowel of a word and tack the suffix on.

Per esempio:

– la donna (the woman) becomes la donnaccia (the big, ugly woman)

– il ragazzo (the boy) becomes il ragazzaccio (the bad boy, also known as a brat)

– il poeta (the poet) becomes il poetucolo (the bad or untalented poet)

– il politico (politician) becomes il politicastro (the bad politician)

– il medico (doctor) becomes il medicastro (the untalented or bad doctor)

– l’uomo (the man) becomes l’omucolo (the bad man)

 

Augmentative nouns are nouns with suffixes that indicate largeness.

These suffixes are:

-one

-ione

Nouns with augmentative endings are usually used in the masculine form, even when referring to feminine subjects.

Per esempio:

– il gatto (the cat) becomes il gattone (the big cat)

– la strada (the street) becomes lo stradone (the big street)

*Notice that the feminine “la strada” becomes masculine with the augmentative suffix

– la porta (the door) becomes il portone (the large door)

– il palazzo (the palace) becomes il palazzone (the big palace)

– il bacio (the kiss) becomes il bacione (the big kiss), which is a great ending for cards or texts

– un piatto (a course or a dish) becomes un piattone (a huge portion or a big dish)

– la donna (the woman) becomes una donnona/donnone a well-built woman

An extra example is il ciccione (the fat guy), which includes an augmentative ending but is used in a negative way.

 

It takes some practice to get the hang of. But once you’re able to recognize the suffixes, you’ll be able to understand the meanings of more words that you come across while reading or listening to Italian.

You’ll also be able to express how big and ugly that horse was, how cute and little that baby girl was, or how big that castle gate was.

Keep in mind, all of these suffixes are commonly used with an ironic or sarcastic meaning, so it could make a little more hard to understand the real meaning of a sentence.

Have any questions about how to use diminutive, pejorative or augmentative suffixes? Drop ‘em below in the comments.