Diminutives -tiņš / -tiņa

Little Words: -tiņš and -tiņa

Level 3

A feminine noun in -s (sixth declension) often forms its diminutive with -tiņa: zivs → zivtiņa (little fish), acs → actiņa (little eye). Masculine nouns like akmens and medus take -tiņš: akmentiņš (pebble), medutiņš (honey).

How It Works

1. Sixth-declension nouns: -tiņa.

  • zivs → zivtiņa (little fish)
  • acs → actiņa (little eye)
  • auss → austiņa (little ear); the plural austiņas also means headphones
  • govs → gotiņa (little cow; the v drops out)

Not every sixth-declension noun adds the t: nakts (night) becomes naktiņa. When you are not sure, check a dictionary.

2. Sirds → sirsniņa. The word for heart has its own form: sirsniņa (little heart). People also use it to address a woman tenderly, like sweetheart.

3. Masculine nouns: -tiņš. Akmens (stone) keeps its n and adds -tiņš: akmentiņš (pebble). Some nouns in -us do the same: medus → medutiņš (honey), lietus → lietutiņš (a little rain).

4. Endings. The diminutive leaves the sixth declension behind. Zivtiņa declines like māja: zivtiņa, zivtiņas, zivtiņai, zivtiņu, zivtiņā. Akmentiņš declines like other nouns in -š: akmentiņš, akmentiņa, akmentiņam, akmentiņu, akmentiņā; plural akmentiņi.

5. Regional forms. In some regions you will hear shorter forms without the t, such as aciņa (little eye) or govtiņa (little cow). The standard forms are actiņa and gotiņa. Note that aciņa is also the diminutive of aka (well).

Diminutives of this kind are especially common when talking to children: Aizver actiņas! (Close your little eyes!)

Examples (6)

  1. Akvārijā peld zelta zivtiņa.

    A goldfish is swimming in the aquarium.

    Zivs → zivtiņa. Zelta zivtiņa, literally a little fish of gold, is the word for goldfish.

  2. Aizver actiņas un guli!

    Close your little eyes and go to sleep!

    Acs → actiņa, here in the accusative plural actiņas. A typical thing to say to a small child.

  3. Bērns uzzīmēja sarkanu sirsniņu.

    The child drew a red heart.

    Sirds → sirsniņa, in the accusative sirsniņu.

  4. Pludmalē es atradu baltu akmentiņu.

    I found a white pebble on the beach.

    Akmens → akmentiņš, in the accusative akmentiņu.

  5. Man ir jaunas austiņas.

    I have new headphones.

    Auss (ear) → austiņa. In the plural, austiņas is the everyday word for headphones.

  6. Ieliec tējā mazliet medutiņa!

    Put a little honey in your tea!

    Medus → medutiņš, in the genitive after mazliet.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving out the t with akmens.

    Pludmalē es atradu baltu akmeniņu.
    Pludmalē es atradu baltu akmentiņu.

    The diminutive of akmens is akmentiņš, with a t before -iņš.

  • Keeping sixth-declension endings on the diminutive.

    Bērns uzzīmēja sarkanu sirsniņi.
    Bērns uzzīmēja sarkanu sirsniņu.

    Sirds has the accusative sirdi, but sirsniņa is an ordinary -a noun, so its accusative is sirsniņu.

How It Connects

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Diminutives -tiņš / -tiņaLevel 3Little Words: -tiņš and -tiņa

Learn This First

Diminutives in -tiņš and -tiņa follow the other diminutives.