Learn about diminutives in Filipino
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Intro |
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| Alisha: What are diminutives and how are they formed in Filipino? |
| Danilo: And are they commonly used? |
| Alisha: At FilipinoPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine this situation: Melvin Mercado points out that his daughter, Michelle Mercado, is not a kid anymore. He says, |
| "You're now a young lady!" |
| Melvin Mercado: Isa ka ng dalagita! |
| Dialogue |
| Melvin Mercado: Isa ka ng dalagita! |
| Michelle Mercado: At maganda! |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| Melvin Mercado: Isa ka ng dalagita! |
| Alisha: "You're now a young lady!" |
| Michelle Mercado: At maganda! |
| Alisha: "And beautiful!" |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: In this lesson, we will be discussing diminutives in the Filipino language and how often they are used. Let's begin by talking about what a diminutive is exactly. One form of the diminutive is when we take a root word and modify it so the new word is the name for the smaller version of that which is indicated by the original word. A simple example is the word "duckling" in English. The suffix "ling" has been added to the root, "duck," and it tells us that the new word describes a baby duck. |
| Diminutives can also be used to convey the fact that something is small, such as the word "teensy." For example, someone could use it and say, "It was just a teensy mistake," which would mean that the mistake was really small. |
| At the same time, diminutives can convey a sense of intimacy, familiarity, affection, or endearment. Consider how people often use the word "doggy" when talking to a beloved dog. The word "doggy" is based on the root word "dog" with the addition of the "-y" suffix. Although there's no official rule where this is concerned, you will have noticed, I'm sure that diminutives are often "cute" in some way as well. |
| Now that we understand what a diminutive is, let's have a look at how they are formed in the Filipino language. Most examples in Filipino can be found when looking at given names. Male and female names can be diminished in various ways and we'll start by looking at some diminutives associated with male names. One of the most common ways to diminish a male name in Filipino is to suffix that name with |
| Danilo: ng |
| Alisha: An example would be |
| Danilo: Betong |
| Alisha: This diminutive is built off of the names |
| Danilo: Alberto |
| Alisha: and |
| Danilo: Albert |
| Alisha: which were first shortened to |
| Danilo: Berto |
| Alisha: and then diminished through the addition of the suffix to make |
| Danilo: Betong |
| Alisha: With many of the diminutives of given names, one just has to remember them. There are no hard and fast rules for creating diminutives in this category. Another common suffix added to a name is |
| Danilo: -ing |
| Alisha: Listen to this diminutive, for instance: |
| Danilo: Beting |
| Alisha: You may have guessed that it is also based on the shortened version of the two names I already mentioned: |
| Danilo: Alberto [brief pause] Albert |
| Alisha: Here, it is a combination of |
| Danilo: Berto |
| Alisha: and the suffix |
| Danilo: ing |
| Alisha: While there are no fixed rules with these diminished forms of given names, you might have noticed a certain pattern. In the diminished names we have discussed thus far, the diminutive suffix replaced the last syllable or letter of the original name and the first syllable of the original name was dropped. But, as I said, this is not a rule. Sometimes, a diminutive suffix is used to replace the last syllables of a name. Listen to this one for instance: |
| Danilo: Timong |
| Alisha: Can you guess the original name? If you guessed that it was |
| Danilo: Timoteo |
| Alisha: then you were correct! Another pattern that one might observe in the formation of the diminutive when it comes to given names is that of diminishing a shortened version of the original name or a sort of nickname. Remember how |
| Danilo: Alberto |
| Alisha: was shortened to |
| Danilo: Berto |
| Alisha: before it was diminished? While it is still quite easy to work backwards from the diminished form to the original shortened word with this example, there are others that would be more difficult to guess. Consider this diminutive, for instance: |
| Danilo: Nonong |
| Alisha: This one is based on a sort of nickname which sounds like this: |
| Danilo: Nono |
| Alisha: and is a common nickname for |
| Danilo: Manuel |
| Alisha: I, for one, would never have made that connection. As previously mentioned, you can see a pattern in the diminutives of given names, and being familiar with these patterns and common suffixes will help you to remember and recognise the diminutives more easily. |
| Let's now have a look at another common diminutive ending for male given names. The diminutive |
| Danilo: Pitoy |
| Alisha: is based on the original name |
| Danilo: Agapito |
| Alisha: and the suffix is |
| Danilo: oy |
| Alisha: As I mentioned, this is another relatively common suffix used to form the diminutive. Here is another example of its usage: |
| Danilo: Yoyoy |
| Alisha: This diminutive is based on the original name |
| Danilo: Mateo |
| Alisha: As you can tell, this one uses the last syllable of the original name and the suffix. Another way that Filipino people form the diminutive is to use only the last two syllables of the original name. There is no suffix. See if you can guess the original name that this diminutive is based on: |
| Danilo: Kardo |
| Alisha: It should be pretty easy to guess because it's a common name, which is |
| Danilo: Ricardo |
| Alisha: We've now had quite a thorough look at common ways to form the diminutive of male given names in Filipino so let's move on to female given names. As with male given names, a common suffix used to form the diminutive of female given names is: |
| Danilo: ng |
| Alisha: You can hear it in this diminutive: |
| Danilo: Isang |
| Alisha: which is based on the given name |
| Danilo: Isabel |
| Alisha: You can see that the suffix is attached to syllables contained in the original name, but there is no fixed rule as to which syllables the suffixes replace or attach to. In the diminutive |
| Danilo: Rosing |
| Alisha: the suffix |
| Danilo: ing |
| Alisha: replaces the last syllable of the original name, which is |
| Danilo: Rosa |
| Alisha: This is a common pattern in Filipino and this is a common suffix used to form diminutives of female given names. |
| One of the differences between male and female diminutives of names is that, where you might find many male diminutives with the ending |
| Danilo: oy |
| Alisha: you would be hard-pressed to find any female diminutives with that ending. Instead, an ending you will find with female diminutives is |
| Danilo: ay |
| Alisha: The diminutive |
| Danilo: Isay |
| Alisha: is an example of the use of this suffix and is based on the given names |
| Danilo: Luisa, [brief pause] Melissa, [brief pause] Clarissa |
| Alisha: or |
| Danilo: Marissa |
| Alisha: Male and female diminutives in Filipino have some similarities in terms of how they are formed, and they differ too, but as you become familiar with them, there are patterns that emerge, and it becomes easier to recognise ones you haven't heard before. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Alisha: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Melvin Mercado says, "You're now a young lady!"? |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Danilo as Melvin Mercado: Isa ka ng dalagita! |
| Alisha: In this sentence, the word |
| Danilo: dalagita |
| Alisha: is the diminished form of the word |
| Danilo: dalaga |
| Alisha: which means "lady." As you can tell, the suffix that has been added to it is |
| Danilo: ita |
| Alisha: Another example of the use of this suffix to form the diminutive of a root word is |
| Danilo: lamesita |
| Alisha: which is the diminished form of the word for "table": |
| Danilo: lamesa |
| Practice Section |
| Alisha: Let's review what we heard in this lesson. I will say the target sentence in English, then you should respond by saying the sentence out loud in Filipino. Danilo will then model the correct answer. Listen to him carefully, with the focus on pronunciation, and then repeat. |
| The first sentence is "You're now a young lady!" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Danilo: Isa ka ng dalagita! |
| Alisha: Did you get it right? Listen to Danilo again, and repeat. |
| Danilo: Isa ka ng dalagita! |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Danilo: Isa ka ng dalagita! |
| Alisha: The second sentence is "And beautiful!" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Danilo: At maganda! |
| Alisha: How did you do this time? Again, listen to Danilo and repeat. |
| Danilo: At maganda! |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Danilo: At maganda! |
| Summary |
| Alisha: In this lesson, we learned that diminutives in Filipino express affection and a feeling of familiarity with the subject of the diminutive. They are most often used with given names and, while there are certain patterns to their formation, one should not take these as rules. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Alisha: One of the features of Filipino diminutives that we discussed is the attachment of the "y" suffix to words in order to create the diminutive. An interesting instance of this can be found in the name that many people of the Philippines use to refer to themselves. The name is based on the last two syllables of the word "Filipino" with a "y" added to the end, resulting in the word "Pinoy." The female version of this is "Pinay." You might recall that this difference in suffixes between the male and female in Filipino was mentioned earlier. The word "Pinoy" is essentially slang, but it's use is prevalent in most Philippine communities. |
| As I mentioned previously, most diminutives in Filipino are variations of given names, but there are other diminutives as well. These are based on words that have their origin in Spanish. The word |
| Danilo: kutsara |
| Alisha: means "spoon" and, if one wants to diminish it to mean "teaspoon," one can add the suffix |
| Danilo: ita |
| Alisha: which forms the diminutive |
| Danilo: kutsarita |
| Alisha: Another suffix that can be used to diminish words of Spanish origin is |
| Danilo: ito |
| Alisha: The word for "plate" is |
| Danilo: plato |
| Alisha: and its diminished form means "sideplate." It sounds like this: |
| Danilo: platito |
| Alisha: These are examples of diminutives that describe something smaller but are similar to the original word. They do not convey affection or a sense of familiarity like diminutives of given names do. |
Outro |
| Alisha: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Danilo: Paalam. |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
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