Learn about diminutives in French
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| Michael: What are diminutives and how are they formed in French? |
| Aurore: And are they commonly used? |
| Michael: At FrenchPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Pauline Petit points out a cute house to her daughter, Philippine Petit. She says |
| "Look at this little house!" |
| Pauline Petit: Regarde cette maisonnette ! |
| Dialogue |
| Pauline Petit: Regarde cette maisonnette ! |
| Philippine Petit: Ah, elle est très mignonne. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Pauline Petit: Regarde cette maisonnette ! |
| Michael: "Look at this little house!" |
| Philippine Petit: Ah, elle est très mignonne. |
| Michael: "Aw, it's so cute." |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: Note how Pauline says |
| Aurore: maisonnette |
| Michael: instead of |
| Aurore: maison. |
| Michael: Both words mean "house," but one ends with the suffix, |
| Aurore: -ette. |
| Michael: This form is called the diminutive, or |
| Aurore: diminutif. |
| Michael: A diminutive is a word that has been modified to convey the smallness of its root meaning. In this particular case, Pauline and Philippine saw how cute the house was and used a diminutive to describe it. Pauline particularly used the suffix |
| Aurore: -ette, |
| Michael: one of the most common feminine diminutive suffixes in French. French diminutives are not only used to describe objects but also persons. For instance, there's the word |
| Aurore: fillette |
| Michael: which means "little girl." It's the diminutive form of |
| Aurore: fille |
| Michael: which means "girl" or "daughter." In this case, the diminutive conveys how young the person is. Diminutives can also be used to describe animals, such as with the word |
| Aurore: le chaton |
| Michael: or "kitten," which is derived from the word |
| Aurore: le chat |
| Michael: or "cat." In this case, the diminutive is used to convey how cute and harmless the cat is. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: So far, we have learned that diminutives are words that have been modified to convey the smallness of their root meaning.They are also used to convey how young a person is, as well as how cute and harmless an animal is. |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: In French, a feminine noun will receive a different diminutive ending than a masculine one. We've already covered one feminine diminutive earlier, which is |
| Aurore: -ette. |
| Michael: Its masculine equivalent would be |
| Aurore: -et |
| Michael: such as in the word |
| Aurore: livret |
| Michael: or "booklet." Another masculine diminutive is |
| Aurore: -ot |
| Michael: such as in the name |
| Aurore: Jeannot |
| Michael: which is a term of endearment for the name |
| Aurore: Jean. |
| Michael: Another masculine diminutive would be |
| Aurore: -on |
| Michael: like in the word |
| Aurore: le caneton |
| Michael: or "duckling." This word is derived from |
| Aurore: le canard |
| Michael: or "duck." In this case, an additional consonant was added to the root word before adding the diminutive. This type of change in French words sometimes takes place for phonetic reasons. And, finally, there's the diminutive |
| Aurore: -eau |
| Michael: such as in |
| Aurore: lapineau |
| Michael: or "little rabbit." The feminine equivalent of this diminutive is |
| Aurora: -elle, |
| Michael: such as in |
| Aurore: ruelle |
| Michael: which means "little street." A rare French diminutive is |
| Aurore: -ou. |
| Michael: One interesting word using this diminutive is |
| Aurore: minou. |
| Michael: It's the equivalent of the English "kitty," or small cat. What makes this word interesting is that it's not derived directly from the French word for "cat," which is |
| Aurore: le chat |
| Michael: but from the sound a cat makes, |
| Aurore: miauler |
| Michael: or "meow." |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Michael: We've learned that diminutives in French are also used to describe a person's quality and not just that of objects or animals. In French, just like in most cultures, diminutives are also used to express affection toward a person. It's like a term of endearment. There is no rule on how to do it, however. Sometimes, the first syllable is dropped, such as in |
| Aurore: Tophe, |
| Michael: which is derived from the name |
| Aurore: Christophe. |
| Michael: Other times, only the middle syllables are kept, such as in |
| Aurore: Manu, |
| Michael: which is derived from the name |
| Aurore: Emmanuel. |
| Michael: In many cases, a suffix is added to the given name, such as in |
| Aurore: Pierrot, |
| Michael: which is a diminutive of the name |
| Aurore: Pierre. |
| Michael: For female names, you have names like |
| Aurore: Mariette |
| Michael: from the name |
| Aurore: Marie |
| Michael: and |
| Aurore: Annette, |
| Michael: from the name |
| Aurore: Anne. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Aurore: À bientôt ! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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