Everyone’s heard the Latin pop song “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi, which with 8.5 billion views on YouTube is the most listened to in history, only behind the children’s song “Baby Shark Dance”, why parents play on repeat to keep their kids happy. 

Despacito means slowly – although it really means ‘little slowly’. That might not make much sense to English speakers, but it’s a perfectly normal way of speaking in Spanish.

Spaniards may also say cuidadito (‘little careful’) rather than cuidado (careful), casita (little house) rather than casa (house) even if it’s not actually small, as well as all other manner of diminutives that they work into daily speech. 

In essence, diminutives are words with suffixes added to them to slightly change their connotation: size, importance and endearment most often. Usually diminutives are used with nouns (including names), adjectives and adverbs.

The most common diminutive suffixes are ito (masculine) and ita (feminine). 

With nouns that end with an o, a, io or ia, you simply drop that final vowel/s and replace it/them with the ito or ita suffix. For example, gato (cat) becomes gatito, or hija (daughter) becomes hijita.

If the word ends in an i, e or u, the diminutive is formed with a cito or cita, so café becomes cafecito.

With words that end with constants, the ito or ita is also used, such as farol (lantern) becoming farolito.

The exceptions are words which end with an n or r consonant, in which case the cito/cita suffix is used, such as corazón (heart) which turns into corazoncito. 

There are some exceptions to the rule, such as Carlos becoming Carlitos and caliente (hot) becoming calentito. 

And believe it or not, sometimes you can even make a diminutive form of a diminutive, as in poquito (a little) becoming poquitito. 

And guess what? Depending on where you are in Spain, the classic ito/ita diminutive changes. 

Esto del uso de diminutivos es historia pura de España. pic.twitter.com/mFPHpVGh3A

— Javier Ruiz Martínez (@JRuizMz) July 15, 2017

In Galicia, they use iño/iña instead, so instead of saying perrito (little dog) they say perriño, which is probably down to the similarity of the local Galician language with Portuguese, which has the inho/inha diminutive.

In neighbouring Asturias, they use ino/ina or ín, so rather that saying poquito (a little) they say poquino or poquín, or abuelito (grandfather) turns into abuelín. 

And in the next region along Spain’s northern coast – Cantabria – the favoured diminutive is uco/uca, so rather than pueblito (little village) they say puebluco.

In Catalonia, the Balearics and Valencia, Catalan and its derivative dialects have also had an influence over how diminutives are used in Spanish, as in these regions they use et or eto/eta instead of ito/ita, therefore rather than conejito (little rabbit) they say conejete. 

In Aragón, Navarra, La Rioja, eastern Castilla-La Mancha and eastern Andalusia they opt for the ico/ica, so un ratito (a little while) is instead un ratico. 

Most other regions in Spain, from Madrid to the Canaries opt for the standard ito-ita diminutives.

So how often should you use diminutives in Spanish?

You shouldn’t incorporate them into every single word you use, otherwise you run the risk of sounding like the Spanish version of Ned Flanders from The Simpsons, what Spaniards would call cursi (corny or sickly sweet). 

When referring to a child or as a way of showing affection to an adult, it’s fine to use a diminutive ie. Paula/Paulita, Juan/Juanito. Be aware however that it could come across as patronising if you use diminutives with someone’s name if they’re not close to you (ok with a friend but not with a work colleague).

When talking to a child, using more diminutives to refer to objects is generally seen as appropriate as it’s a way of denoting affection.

When trying to downplay something or not wanting it too sound too serious, Spaniards often resort to use diminutives: un rato/un ratito (a while, a little while), un problema/un problemita (a problem, a little problem), ten cuidado/ten cuidadito (be careful), ojo/ojito (watch out). 

It can also be used as a way of causing less offence, so saying gordito rather than gordo (fat) or bajito instead of bajo (short).

If talking to a friend about grabbling a quick coffee or a beer, then you can also suggest ¿Nos tomamos un café o una cervecita? (Shall we have a quick coffee or a beer?).

When it comes to speaking to a romantic partner, you may want to stay clear of using diminutives such as amorcito instead of amor or corazón instead of corazoncito, because as we said it can come across as cursi (sickly sweet).