Learn the answer to the question 'What are augmentatives?'
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| Ask a Teacher, Lesson 13 - What are augmentatives and how do you use them in Spanish? |
| Hi everybody! Rosa here. Welcome to Ask a Teacher where I’ll answer some of your most common Spanish questions. |
| The question for this lesson is… |
| What are augmentatives and how do you use them in Spanish? |
| In another lesson we talked about diminutives, which are expressive suffixes used to emphasize that something is particularly small or short, or to show affection. In this lesson, we’ll discuss augmentatives. |
| Augmentatives are expressive suffixes that emphasize that some is big or has great importance. We’ll talk about the most common ones in this lesson. |
| Let’s do some examples so you can learn how to use augmentatives correctly. |
| -ón or -ona, are common augmentative suffixes and they’re used with words like cabeza, meaning "head," to make cabezón, "a big head." Note that sometimes this is used in a bad or mocking sense, for example from barriga, "belly," we get barrigón, "a big belly." |
| Another commonly used suffix is -azo or -aza. From éxito, "success," we get exitazo to express that something was “a great success” or “a big success.” Sometimes, when the word is combined with a tool or utensil, it explains an action that was performed with that tool. For example, bastón, "stick," becomes bastonazo, and means "to hit with a stick." The same happens with pelota, "ball," becoming pelotazo, "to hit with a ball." |
| Lastly, the suffix -ote or -ota, is commonly used with names and adjectives that apply to people. It’s also used for making things seem bigger. However, this one can have a more affectionate sense or can be soft way of making fun of someone. However, it always depends on the intention of the speaker. For example, from muchacho, "boy," to muchachote, literally meaning "big boy." And with amigo, "friend," we get amigote. This could be used by, for example your father, in a kind way or to make a joke. |
| How was this lesson? Pretty interesting right? |
| Do you have any more questions? Leave them in the comments below and I’ll try to answer them! |
| ¡Hasta la próxima! “Until next time!” |
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