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Big, small, nasty: the suffixes

Italian can change the size and the mood of almost any noun with a suffix — the alterati. You'll hear them in every casual conversation:

Suffix Effect Examples
-one / -ona big, often admiring cane → cagnone · bello → bellone · macchina → macchinona
-ino / -ina small, affectionate cane → cagnolino · caffè → caffettino · mamma → mammina
-etto / -etta small, cute casa → casetta · borsa → borsetta
-accio / -accia bad, nasty tempo → tempaccio · parola → parolaccia (swear word)

Some have become words of their own: il telefonino (mobile phone), il panino (sandwich, from pane), il fumetto (comic). And a few switch gender with -one: la porta → il portone (main door).