A2 · The noun · about 4 minutes
Diminutives: -inho, -inha
It reaches adverbs too — and sozinho no longer means « a bit alone ».
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Words you will need11
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- a casinha de pássarosthe nest box
- o bocadinhoa moment, a little bit
- dar uma mãozinhato lend a hand
- a mudançathe house move
- andarto walk; to ride
- o chãothe floor (underfoot)
- chover no molhadoto labour the obvious
- sozinhoalone
- passadopast; last (week, month)
- cinquentafifty
- o metrothe underground
Practise as flashcards · 1Practise as flashcards · 2
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Understand
RememberIt says something about the speaker, not about the thing.
- Signal words
- -inho
- -inha
- -zinho
- bocadinho
- devagarinho
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.
1 more example sentences
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.
Quick check
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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.
The verbs on this page, in every form: fazer · estar · ficar · dar · querer · viver · andar · morar