Spanish Augmentative
The augmentative is a word that has been modified in some way to convey a greater degree of its basic meaning: large size, greatness, or greater intensity of something. The opposite of an augmentative is a diminutive.
The augmentative in Spanish is formed by adding a suffix to a noun or an adjective. These suffixes can vary from region to region in Spain.
Here are some examples:
- una casa (a house) → una casota (a big house)
- un hombre (a man) → un hombretón (a big man)
- un coche (a car) → un cochazo (a great car)
- la niña es guapa (the girl is pretty) → la niña es guapetona (the girl is very pretty)
- estos niños son buenos (these boys are good) → estos niños son buenísimos (these boys are very good)
All suffixes have a masculine, feminine, singular and plural form that agrees with the word they are modifying.
