Ch. 4b Special Endings:ísimo/a and ito/ita

By: Gabrielle Showalter. Carrie Sheaffer, Craig, Horton Per. 2

How to Add Special Endings

•  Adding an ending to an adjective or noun can have special significance in Spanish.

• When you use ‘very’, most or extremely with an adjective in English the ending ísimo often can be added to an adjective in Spanish. Adjectives that end in a vowel, then appropriate ísimo ending usually replaces the final word.

•  Examples: ése es n léon grande – that is a big lion• .Ése es un léon grandísimo- that is a very big li

ísimo on.

Examples

• ése es n léon grande – that is a big lion.

• Ése es un léon grandísimo- that is a very big li ísimo on.

•  El oso era pequeño.- the bear was small.

• El oso era pequeñísimo.- the bear was very small

Adjectives

• Adjectives which end in –ble, change the –ble to bil before adding the ísimo ending.

• ese malabarista era amable.- the juggler was nice.

• Examples: Ese malabrista era amabilísimo. – the juggler was very nice.

Adjectives with Accent Marks

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

• Examples: Las trapecistas eran rápidas.- the trapeze artists were fast.

• Las trapecistas eran rapidísimas- the trapeze artists were very fast.

Attaching Endings

• Attach approprate 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

Examples

• Era fácil jugar con los payasos.- It was easy to play with the clowns.

• Era facilísimo jugar con los payasos.- It was very easy to play with the clowns. 

• La banda tocaba cosas difíciles.- The band played difficult things.

• La banda tocaba cosas dificilísimas.- The band played extremely difficult things.

Adjective Endings

• 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

Other Endings

• 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 replace 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. There are many exceptions for this rule: animal>animalito.

Cont.

• Try to become familiar with as many variations as you can since the endings vary from person to person and from country to country.

• Examples: ito: oso>osito cito: león>leoncito illo: payaso>payasillo

• Uelo: pollo>polluelo ico: gato>gatico