Special endings -ísimo/a -ito/a

Unidad 4:

Special endings:
-ísimo/a and -
ito/a

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

For example, when you would use “very,”
“most.” or extremely” with an adjective in
English, the ending -ísimo/a often can be
added to an adjective in Spanish.

Adjective

Ending -ísimo/a

Grande

Grandisimo

Big

Very big

Similarly, you can add another set of endings to
a noun to show affection or to indicate
something is small.

For example:

Noun

Ending -ito/a

Bebé

Bebesito

Baby

Little baby

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

● We are going to learn how to add the ending:

○ ísimo, ísima, ísimos, ísimas to adjectives and
○ ito, ita, itos, itas, itas to nouns.

Adding the ending ísimo/a

When you add the ending ísimo/a to an adjective in Spanish can be compared to when you add the word "very," "most," "extremely" before the adjective.

For example:

If I want to say; that house is very big.

I would not say; la casa es grande. The house is big.

I would say; la casa es grandisima. The house is very big.

Rules for adding special endings.

● To add this special ending to most adjectives we:

○DROP the final vowel.

○ADD ísimo, ísima, ísimos, ísimas or ito, ita, itos, itas.
■Must agree in gender and number with the noun.

Adjective

Drop
the final vowel

Add
(ísimo/a, ísimos/as)

Special ending

Grande

Grande

Grandísimo

Gandísimo

Noun

Drop
the final vowel

Add
(ito, ita, itos, itas)

Special ending

Gato

Gato

Gatito

Gatito

Multiple Choice

To add this special ending to most adjectives we drop the last vowel.

• True

• False

Rules for adding special endings.

●

Adjectives that end in -ble, change the -ble to -bil, then add
ísimo/a, ísimos/as.
○For example:
■Amable

Amabilísima

Mi maestra es amable.

My teacher is nice

Mi maestra es amabilísima.

My teacher is very nice.

Multiple Choice

Adjectives that end in -ble, change the -ble to -bil, then add ísimo/a, ísimos/as.

• True

• False

Rules for adding special endings.

●

Adjectives with an accent mark lose the accent mark when
adding an -ísimo/a, ísimos/as.

○For example:
■Rápido

Rapidísimo

■Difícil

Dificilísimo

La gata es rápida.

The cat is fast.

La gata es rapidísima.

The cat is very fast.

Multiple Choice

Adjectives with accent marks loose the original accent mark when adding a form of ísimo?

• true

• false

Rules for adding special endings.

●When the adjective has a consonant at the end attach the appropriate form of
ísimo directly to the adjective, but first remove the plural.

○For example:

■Las tareas son difíciles.

The assignments are difficult.

■Las tareas son dificilísimas

the assignments are extremely difficult.

Multiple Choice

What are the changes for an adjective that ends in a consonant?

• Add the form of ísimo at the end of the adjective

• Drop the vowel and add a form of ísimo

• Drop the plural form

  Add a form of ísimo

Rules for adding special endings.

●Adjectives that end in -co/ca, -go/ga, or -z require a special change
when a form of -ísimo is added.

Multiple Choice

Adjectives whose stems ends in ca/co have the following changes:

• gu

• c

• qu