Learn about diminutives in German
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Intro |
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| Michael: How do I make diminutives in German? |
| Igor: And is the use of diminutives common? |
| Michael: At GermanPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Karen Lee and Mark Lee didn't see each other for a few days, Karen greets her husband with. |
| "I missed you my little bear." |
| Karen Lee: Ich habe dich vermisst Bärchen. |
| Dialogue |
| KAREN LEE: Ich habe dich vermisst Bärchen. |
| MARK LEE: Ich habe dich mehr vermisst Schätzelein. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| KAREN LEE: Ich habe dich vermisst Bärchen. |
| Michael: "I missed you, my little bear." |
| MARK LEE: Ich habe dich mehr vermisst Schätzelein. |
| Michael: "I missed you more, darling." |
Lesson focus |
| Problem Introduction |
| Michael: Note how Karen says, |
| Igor: Bärchen, |
| Michael: instead of |
| Igor: Bär. |
| Michael: Both mean "bear," but |
| Igor: Bärchen |
| Michael: ends with the suffix, |
| Igor: -chen, |
| Michael: Instead of the usual ending, |
| Igor: -r. |
| Michael: This form is called the diminutive, and it's attached to nouns to make them seem smaller, cuter, or just more fragile than they usually are. In this case, Karen wants to express how much she admires her husband, by calling him a cute bear. |
| Michael: The ending, |
| Igor: -chen, |
| Michael: is very common and you'll probably hear diminutives build with his suffix the most, but let's have a look at the word Ben used to answer his wife, |
| Igor: Schätzelein |
| Michael: As you can hear Ben used the suffix |
| Igor: -lein |
| Michael: There is no actual rule of when to use those suffixes. You can attach them to all words in German, although some combinations may sound strange to native speakers like, |
| Igor: Schuhlein |
| Michael: While the word |
| Igor: Schühchen |
| Michael: Is commonly used to refer to shoes for newborns. What's also important to mention is that it doesn't matter which gender the word has in its neutral form, after changing it to a diminutive it always becomes a neuter. |
| Also, if the stem vowel is |
| Igor: A, O oder U |
| Michael: like in the word |
| Igor: Buch |
| Michael: meaning "book," it will change into, |
| Igor: Ä, Ö oder Ü, |
| Michael: as in |
| Igor: Büchlein |
| Michael: meaning "small book." |
| SUMMARY |
| Michael: So far we have learned that the diminutives are expressive suffixes that emphasize small size or cuteness. We can create a diminutive noun with the suffix, |
| Igor: -chen |
| Michael: at the end of the noun or the suffix, |
| Igor: -lein. |
| Michael: Aside from expressing small size, the diminutives are often used to remove a danger or a strong connotation from a word. For example, if you tell your friends you've been attacked by a |
| Igor: Hund |
| Michael: It might let them think that you were in actual danger. But if you use the diminutive word for a dog, |
| Igor: Hündchen |
| Michael: It adds some lightness to the meaning. So if you tell your friends |
| Igor: Ich wurde von einem Hündchen attackiert. |
| Michael: "I've been attacked by a doggy." |
| Michael: A funny image of you being attacked by a harmless Chihuahua will appear in their imagination. And instead of being concerned about your health, I'm sure everyone will start to laugh. |
| Expansion/Contrast I |
| Michael: Even though a diminutive is a stylistic device, some German diminutives made it into the common language being used as a proper word to describe existing things. So, you might hear many words that end in the diminutive endings |
| Igor: -chen und -lein. |
| Michael: Now, to picture in which situations you'd get confronted with such diminutives, let's imagine we're in a bakery, and next to this delicious German |
| Igor: Brot |
| Michael: meaning "bread," you'll find small rolls that are called |
| Igor: Brötchen |
| Michael: in German, which literally means "small breads." Now, you need something to put on your delicious looking |
| Igor: Brötchen |
| Michael: Fortunately, next to the bakery is a butchery. We are asking the clerk what he would recommend for our freshly baked buns, and he answers |
| Igor: Wurst oder Würstchen. |
| Michael: Now, both words actually mean "sausage" but while |
| Igor: Wurst |
| Michael: is associated with a proper, meaty and heavy sausage, |
| Igor: Würstchen |
| Michael: Is a more delicate kind of sausage, like the |
| Igor: Wiener Würstchen |
| Michael: meaning "Vienna sausage." |
| Mostly Germans don't even think about these words being a diminutive, because it's just part of their daily language. The same goes for the diminutive word, |
| Igor: das Mädchen |
| Michael: which is the most common for "a girl." If we ask someone from Germany if this is a diminutive, they'd most likely answer, |
| "No, it's not a diminutive." But actually, it is. This word comes from an old fashioned word |
| Igor: die Magd |
| Michael: meaning "the maid," but through centuries the diminutive of this word became a proper noun for "a girl." Another such word is |
| Igor: das Märchen |
| Michael: meaning "a fairy tale," and coming from a word which isn't used in German anymore, |
| Igor: die Mär |
| Michael: meaning "a tale." |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Another situation where diminutives would be used is while creating terms of endearment. Our previous endings have limited use here, because using the endings |
| Igor: -chen und -lein |
| Michael: Are used only for very young children. If someone is talking about |
| Igor: Paulchen |
| Michael: we can assume that Paul is only a few months or a few years old. |
| If we want to create terms of endearment for older people we will need to use a different suffix, which is |
| Igor: -i. |
| Michael: This way you create a short form of a name in German, but you shouldn't do it with people you've just met, since using terms of endearment is an act of intimacy in German. Now let's have a look at some examples. First, Igor, how did your classmates call you in school? |
| Igor: Thank you Michael for asking, my classmates and friends called me Iggi |
| Michael: Or another example is |
| Igor: Siegmund |
| Michael: which becomes |
| Igor: Siggi |
| Michael: Or the female name |
| Igor: Anna |
| Michael: becomes |
| Igor: Anni |
| Michael: Or |
| Igor: Andreas |
| Michael: becomes |
| Igor: Andi |
| Michael: Some names don't have a term of endearment, let's take the male name |
| Igor: Stefan |
| Michael: if we would create a term of endearment for this name, we would get |
| Igor: Steffi |
| Michael: which is actually a term of endearment for the female version of Stefan, |
| Igor: Stefanie. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Igor: Tschüsschen! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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