Special endings: ísimo/a and ito/ita



Special endings: ísimo/a and ito/ita

When you would use “very,” “most” or “extremely” with an adjective in English, the ending -ísimo (and the variations -ísima, -ísimos and -ísimas) often can be added to an adjective in Spanish.

If adjective ends in a vowel, the appropriate -ísimo ending replaces the final vowel.

Ése es un león grande. Ése es un león grandísimo.

El oso es pequeño. El oso es pequeñísimo.

If adjective ends in -ble, change -ble to -bil and add the appropriate –ísimo.

Ese hombre es amable. (That man is nice).

Ese hombre es amabilísimo. (That man is REALLY nice).

Adjectives with an accent mark lose the accent mark when an -ísimo ending is added.

Los coches son rápidas. (The trapeze artists were fast).

Las coches son rapidísimas. (The trapeze artists were REALLY fast).

Attach the appropriate form of -ísimo/a directly to the end of adjectives that end in a consonant, but first remove any plural ending before adding -ísimo/a.

Es fácil jugar con los perros. (It is easy to play with the dogs).

Es facilísimo jugar con los perros. (It is REALLY easy to play with the dogs).

La banda toca cosas difíciles. (The band plays difficult things).

La banda toca cosas dificilísimas. (The band plays difficult things).

Adjectives that end in -co/-ca, -go/-ga or -z require a spelling change when a form of -ísimo is added.

c −− qu: cómico −− comiquísimo

g −− gu: larga −− larguísima

z −− c: feliz −− felicísimo

Similarly, you can add another set of endings to a noun to show affection or to indicate that someone or something is small. The most common of these endings is a form of -ito (-ita, -itos, -itas), which usually replaces the final vowel of a noun.

Other diminutive endings include -cito (-cita, -citos, -citas), -illo (-illa, -illos, -illas), -uelo (-uela,-uelos, -uelas) and -ico (-ica, -icos, -icas). Like all adjectives, these endings must match the gender and number of the noun. Try to become familiar with as many variations as you can since

the endings vary from person to person and from country to country.

-ito: oso −− osito

-cito: león −− leoncito

-illo: payaso −− payasillo

-uelo: pollo −− polluelo

-ico: gato −− gatico

Adapted from



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