Diminutives

01

Masculine: -ić and -čić

Masculine nouns usually add -ić (or -čić after certain consonants). The diminutive stays masculine.

• kolač (cake) → kolačić (cookie)
• stol (table) → stolić (little table)
• prozor (window) → prozorčić (little window)

• Pojeo sam jedan kolačić.

  I ate one cookie.

02

Feminine: -ica

Feminine nouns add -ica (often -čica). These fill the food vocabulary.

• čokolada (chocolate) → čokoladica (candy bar)
• vreća (sack) → vrećica (small bag)
• knjiga (book) → knjižica (booklet)

• Trebam jednu vrećicu.

  I need one small bag.

03

Neuter: -ce

Neuter nouns typically take -ce.

• selo (village) → seoce (small village)
• jezero (lake) → jezerce (small lake)

04

Affection and Politeness

Beyond size, the diminutive softens the tone. A host offers you a kavica rather than a plain kava, and parents speak to small children almost entirely in diminutives. It makes a sentence sound friendlier, not more precise.

• Hoćeš li jednu kavicu?

  Would you like a little coffee?

• Daj mi malo vodice.

  Give me a little water.

05

When the Meaning Has Drifted

Some diminutives have become words in their own right and no longer mean "a small X". kolačić is simply a cookie, not "a little cake"; djevojčica is the ordinary word for a young girl.

• Ona ima jednu djevojčicu.

  She has one little girl.

• Volim kolačiće s čokoladom.

  I like cookies with chocolate.

06

Names Take Diminutives

First names are constantly turned into affectionate short forms among family and friends, where the full name can sound stiff.

• Ana → Anica
• Ivan → Ivica
• Marija → Marica

• Bok, ja sam Ivica.

  Hi, I am Ivica.

07

Even Small Words Shrink

The habit reaches beyond nouns. The adverb malo (a little) has the coaxing diminutive malko / malkice (a tiny bit), used to make a request gentler still.

• Pričekaj malo.

  Wait a little.

• Daj mi malkice.

  Give me a tiny bit.