-isko

Big and Rough: -isko

Level 6

-isko is the opposite of a diminutive. It turns pes into psisko (a huge dog), chlap into chlapisko (a big hulk of a man) and nos into nosisko (a big nose).

How It Works

Making things bigger. Slovak can make a noun smaller and cuter with diminutives, and it can make it bigger and rougher with the suffix -isko. Such words are called augmentatíva (augmentatives):

  • pes → psisko (a huge dog)
  • chlap → chlapisko (a big hulk of a man)
  • dom → domisko (a huge house)
  • nos → nosisko (a big nose)
  • vlk → vlčisko (a big wolf)

The stem can change, just as it does in other forms: the fleeting e of pes disappears in psisko, and k changes to č in vlčisko.

Feeling, not only size. Augmentatives are expressive. They can show admiration (To je ale chlapisko!), fear or dislike. They belong to lively speech and literature, not to neutral or official texts.

How they decline. These nouns follow the neuter pattern mesto: psisko, psiska, psisku, psiskom; plural psiská, genitive plural psísk (with a lengthened vowel), locative o psiskách. Dictionaries note that the singular can also be treated as masculine: to psisko or ten psisko, to chlapisko or ten chlapisko, and even to domisko or ten domisko. The plural of psisko and domisko is neuter only: tie psiská, tie domiská. Augmentatives for men, such as chlapisko, also have a masculine plural: tí chlapiskovia.

Not every -isko is big. The same ending also forms place nouns, which are neutral: ihrisko (playground), letisko (airport), parkovisko (car park), bydlisko (place of residence). These place nouns are mostly built on verbs (letieť → letisko, parkovať → parkovisko). The "big and rough" meaning comes when -isko is added to a noun for a person, animal or thing, like pes → psisko.

Examples (6)

  1. Na dvore nás privítalo obrovské psisko.

    A huge dog greeted us in the yard.

    Word by Word: In yard us greeted huge dog-AUG.

    Neuter agreement: obrovské psisko privítalo.

  2. To je ale chlapisko, skriňu zdvihol úplne sám!

    What a hulk of a man, he lifted the wardrobe all by himself!

    Word by Word: That is but man-AUG, wardrobe he-lifted completely alone!

  3. Bývajú v takom domisku, že by sa tam zmestila celá dedina.

    They live in such a huge house that the whole village would fit in it.

    Word by Word: They-live in such house-AUG that would itself there fit whole village.

    Locative singular domisku, like v meste.

  4. Klaun mal červené nosisko a obrovské topánky.

    The clown had a big red nose and huge shoes.

    Word by Word: Clown had red nose-AUG and huge shoes.

  5. V noci pri plote štekali dve psiská.

    At night two huge dogs were barking by the fence.

    Word by Word: At night by fence barked two dogs-AUG.

    The plural is neuter: dve psiská.

  6. V rozprávke sa v lese stretol s vlčiskom.

    In the fairy tale, he met a big wolf in the forest.

    Word by Word: In fairy-tale himself in forest met with wolf-AUG.

    Instrumental singular vlčiskom, like mestom.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a masculine ending for the genitive plural.

    Na dvore bolo päť psiskov.
    Na dvore bolo päť psísk.

    Augmentatives in -isko decline like mesto, so the genitive plural has no ending and a lengthened vowel: psísk, like miest.

  • Using the masculine plural form tí with an augmentative.

    Tí psiská celú noc štekali.
    Tie psiská celú noc štekali.

    Psisko may be masculine or neuter in the singular, but its plural is neuter only: tie psiská.

  • Keeping the fleeting e of the base word.

    Mali doma obrovské pesisko.
    Mali doma obrovské psisko.

    Pes loses its e in all other forms (psa, psovi), and the augmentative is built on that stem: psisko.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-iskoLevel 6Big and Rough: -isko

Learn This First

Before Big and Rough: -isko, learn Diminutives. -isko is the opposite of diminutives.