Learn about diminutives in Hebrew
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are diminutives and how are they formed in Hebrew? |
| Lenny: And are they commonly used? |
| Michael: At HebrewPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Tsipora is on a walk with her little child, they see a cat and she says, |
| "Look at the kitten!" |
| Tsipora Tsadok: תראי את החתלתול הזה! (Tir'yi et ha-khataltul haze!) |
| Dialogue |
| Tsipora Tsadok: תראי את החתלתול הזה! (Tir'yi et ha-khataltul haze!) |
| Tsila Tsadok: חמוד! (Khamud!) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Tsipora Tsadok: תראי את החתלתול הזה! (Tir'yi et ha-khataltul haze!) |
| Michael: "Look at the kitten!" |
| Tsila Tsadok: חמוד! (Khamud!) |
| Michael: "How cute!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In Hebrew, words can change shape in order to convey extra information about the size or the appearance of something, or the way the speaker feels. When a word is modified to convey the smallness of its size or quality, the resulting word is what’s referred to as |
| Lenny: צורת הקטנה (tsurat haktana) |
| Michael: or "diminutives." Many common Hebrew words are actually the diminutive form of their root words. In this lesson, we will learn how diminutives are formed in Hebrew and how they are used. |
| [Recall] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue to understand how Hebrew diminutives work. |
| Do you remember how Tsipora says "Look at the kitten?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Lenny as Tsipora Tsadok: תראי את החתלתול הזה! (Tir'yi et ha-khataltul haze!) |
| Michael: Here, the diminutive word is |
| Lenny: חתלתול (khataltul) |
| Michael: or "kitten." One of the ways diminutives are formed in Modern Hebrew is by reduplicating the final syllable of the root word, which in this case is |
| Lenny: חָתוּל (khatul) |
| Michael: or "cat." The diminutive in question doesn’t necessarily refer to the offspring of a cat, but to how cute the little animal is. Think of it more as "kitty" instead of "kitten." A similar example would be the word |
| Lenny: כלבלב (klavlav) |
| Michael: or "puppy," from the root word |
| Lenny: כלב (kelev) |
| Michael: which means "dog." This is not the only way to form diminutives in Hebrew. Another way is with the help of the suffix, |
| Lenny: ית- (it) |
| Michael: for instance, the diminutive for "spoon," or |
| Lenny: כף (kaf) |
| Michael: would be |
| Lenny: כפית (kapit) |
| Michael: which means "teaspoon." Meanwhile, the diminutive for the word |
| Lenny: שק (sak) |
| Michael: or "sack," would be |
| Lenny: שקית (sakit), |
| Michael: which means "small bag." Finally, you can also form diminutives in Hebrew with the use of the suffix |
| Lenny: ון- (on) |
| Michael: such as in the word |
| Lenny: ספרון (sifron) |
| Michael: or "booklet," which is derived from the root word |
| Lenny: סֵפֶר (sefer), |
| Michael: the Hebrew word for "book." |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned that, in Hebrew, you can modify words in order to convey extra information and connotation about what you’re talking about or the way you feel about it. Diminutives are modified words that describe something as smaller or cuter. In Hebrew, the most common way to form a diminutive is by reduplicating the final syllable of the root word. Another way is with the help of the suffixes, |
| Lenny: ית- (it) |
| Michael: and |
| Lenny: ון- (on). |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Diminutives are common in Hebrew adjectives as well. They are also formed via reduplication. You just have to reduplicate the final syllables, omitting |
| any vowel syllables, if they exist. For instance, the diminutive for the adjective, |
| Lenny: שמן (shamen), |
| Michael: or "fat" is |
| Lenny: שמנמן (shmanman), |
| Michael: which means "chubby." Note that the feminine sounds a little different. |
| Lenny: Please note that you need to add the suffix et to the feminine form as in שמנמונת (shmanmonet). |
| Michael: Here is another example: |
| Lenny: קטן (katan) |
| Michael: or "small" becomes |
| Lenny: קטנטן (ktantan) in the masculine form, and קטנטונת (ktantonet) in the feminine. |
| Michael: They both mean "tiny." |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: In most cultures, diminutives are used not only to convey the smallness of the size or quality of an object, but also to convey intimacy. This is done by assigning a diminutive to names. The same is true in Hebrew, where names are altered to convey intimacy between the person speaking and the one being addressed. For instance, the name |
| Lenny: אריה (ariye) |
| Michael: is usually modified as |
| Lenny: ארי (ari), |
| Michael: while the name, |
| Lenny: דוד (david) |
| Michael: or "David," is often modified as |
| Lenny: דודו (dudu) |
| Michael: or |
| Lenny: דודי (dudi). |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Lenny: !להתראות (lehitra’ot!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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