{"id":10351,"date":"2018-12-12T16:54:21","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T16:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=10351"},"modified":"2018-12-12T16:54:21","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T16:54:21","slug":"the-german-diminutive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-german-diminutive\/","title":{"rendered":"The German Diminutive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today I\u2019m going to tell you about diminutives<\/strong> in German. Diminutives are words that are altered to express a smaller, younger or \u2018cuter\u2019 version of themselves. An example of an English diminutive is the word droplet<\/em><\/strong>, from the word drop<\/em><\/strong>, and the word booklet<\/em><\/strong>, from the word book<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In English, words often become diminutive by adding the suffix -let (droplet, booklet). In Standard (High) German, the diminutive words are made by adding either -chen or -lein.<\/p>\n

High German diminutive suffixes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

-chen<\/strong>
\n-lein<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"

Katze -> K\u00e4tzchen. Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

Here are some examples of words and their diminutives in German:<\/p>\n

-lein<\/b><\/h3>\n

This is the less common of the two. The most common example is the word\u00a0Fr<\/span>\u00e4ulein:<\/p>\n

Frau \u2192 Fr\u00e4<\/span>ulein (Woman \/ Young woman, or Mrs. \/ Miss)<\/span><\/p>\n

Mann \u2192 M<\/span>\u00e4nnlein (Man \/ Small man : Dwarf-like characters are often referred to as\u00a0M\u00e4nnlein in fairytales)<\/span><\/p>\n

Spiegel \u2192 Spiegelein (Mirror – As in ‘Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall’ in Snow White. The diminutive is used because the mirror is getting ‘sweet-talked’!).<\/span><\/p>\n

The -lein suffix is commonly used in fairytales and children’s stories. More common in everyday life is the suffix -chen<\/em>:<\/p>\n

-chen <\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

Hund \u2192 H\u00fcndchen (Dog \/ Little, cute or young dog)<\/span><\/p>\n

Hase \u2192 H\u00e4schen (Rabbit \/ Little, cute or young rabbit)<\/span><\/p>\n

Katze \u2192 K\u00e4tzchen (Cat \/ Little, cute or young cat)<\/span><\/p>\n

Brot \u2192 Br\u00f6tchen (Bread \/ Bread roll or small piece of bread, eg. for a child)<\/span><\/p>\n

Haus \u2192 H\u00e4uschen (House \/ Little house, eg. for a pet)<\/span><\/p>\n

Tasse \u2192 T<\/span>\u00e4<\/span>sschen (Cup \/ Little cup)<\/span><\/p>\n

As you can see, when a word becomes diminutive, if it has an a, o, or u in it, that letter receives an Umlaut.<\/strong> If you\u2019re not familiar with the Umlaut yet, here\u2019s a post <\/a><\/span>about it!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Brot – Br\u00f6tchen. Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

What about gender?<\/span><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re wondering what gender the diminutive word takes in German, the answer will probably make you breathe a sigh of relief: All diminutives are neuter, so they <\/strong><\/span>all <\/i><\/span>t<\/span><\/strong>ake das<\/strong>! This is regardless of the gender of the original word, so even though die Katze<\/em> is feminine, its diminutive is neuter (das <\/span>K\u00e4tzchen<\/span>)<\/span>. <\/span>Der Hund<\/em> is masculine, but its diminutive is neuter (das <\/span>H\u00fcndchen<\/span>). It seems to confuse a lot of German language learners that the word for girl \u2013 M<\/strong><\/span>\u00e4<\/span><\/strong>dchen<\/strong> \u2013 is neuter and not feminine. Hopefully <\/span>its ending (-chen) now<\/span> explains why that is the case! <\/span><\/p>\n

Diminutives in other German dialects<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

Hochdeutsch<\/strong> (High German) uses -lein and -chen to form the diminutive. But other German dialects use different suffixes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bavarian<\/strong> dialect often uses the suffix -erl<\/strong> to form the diminutive. Examples include Katzerl<\/em> (Katze \/ Cat), Hunderl<\/em> (Hund \/ Dog) and Tischerl<\/em> (Tisch \/ Table). Sometimes, especially in speech, this can sound like only an L has been added to the word. So it might sound like you\u2019re hearing Hundl rather than Hunderl. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Swiss German<\/strong> dialect forms the diminutive by adding the suffix -li.<\/strong> They also follow the same Umlaut rule as in Hochdeutsch. Examples include K\u00e4tzli<\/em> (Katze \/ Cat), H<\/em><\/span>\u00fc<\/span><\/em>ndli<\/em> (Hund \/ Dog) and, one of my personal favourites, N\u00e4chtli N\u00e4chtli<\/em> \u2013 Night, Night! \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! Today I\u2019m going to tell you about diminutives in German. Diminutives are words that are altered to express a smaller, younger or \u2018cuter\u2019 version of themselves. An example of an English diminutive is the word droplet, from the word drop, and the word booklet, from the word book. In English, words often become…<\/p>\n

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