The term Fräulein(young lady, Miss) is used to refer to a young, unmarried woman. However, it is a rather old-fashioned term that you rarely hear in conversational German nowadays. So unless you are talking about a character in “The Sound of Music,” it’s best to use Frau(woman, Ms.) instead. Otherwise you may have to deal with a little bit of awkwardness!
German diminutives: What are they and how to use them?
By: Babsi Schafer Cabrera Tue Sep 23 2025
German diminutives are special forms of words that we use to make nouns sound “smaller” than they were originally intended to be. You can form them with one of two endings: -chen or -lein.
Das Mädchen spielt auf dem Spielplatz.
The girl is playing on the playground.
Ein Männlein steht im Walde ganz still und stumm. Es hat von lauter Purpur ein Mäntlein um.
There was a little man standing in the woods. He is wearing a little crimson colored coat.
→ from an old children’s song
In this post we’ll talk a bit more about how to form German diminutives and discuss when you might want to use these forms. Let’s have a little look!
What are diminutives?
Diminutives are words with endings that make them “smaller.” This “smallness” can be literal or figurative. Some English diminutive might be “doggy” (from “dog”), “kitchenette” (from “kitchen”), or “duckling” (from “duck”).
Diminutives are very common in the German language. The diminutive suffixes can be added to any noun, including proper names. They are often combined with adjectives that stress the “smallness” of something or someone even more, like klein(small), winzig(tiny) and süß(cute).
When to use diminutives in German?
In German, you’ll use diminutives in the following contexts:
To make something sound cuter or smaller in size:
Das Hündchen ist wirklich süß.
The doggy is really cute.
Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt.
Advent, Advent, a little light is shining.
To make something or someone sound younger:
Meine Mutter hat ein Kätzchen adoptiert.
My mother adopted a kitten.
Das Fräulein steigt in den Bus ein.
The young lady is getting on the bus.
Tip
To express more empathy or pity someone:
Oh nein! Das arme Schäfchen hat seine Herde verloren.
Oh no! The poor sheep has lost its flock.
Die Katze hat das kleine Mäuslein gefangen.
The cat caught the poor little mouse.
To express affection and form endearments:
Du bist mein Schätzchen!
You are my sweetie!
Das Paulchen hat seine Hausaufgaben gemacht.
Pauly did his homework.
To express sarcasm or depreciation:
Du kannst nicht schlafen? Hast du mal wieder ein Tässchen zu viel Kaffee getrunken?
You can’t sleep? Have you had one (little) cup of coffee too many?
So ein Dummchen!
Such a silly (person)!
To express playfulness or positivity:
For instance, two friends go hiking together and one brings a huge bag full of stuff they probably won’t even need. The other might say:
Bist du sicher, dass alles Platz hatte in deinem Täschchen?
Are you sure you could fit everything in your small bag?
To address babies and young children:
It’s very common to use diminutives in “baby speech” (just don’t overdo it, please! Little children thrive from hearing real talk!). You can also see this often in nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Hänschen klein ging allein in die weite Welt hinein.
Little Hans went out into the wide world.
Summ, summ, summ, Bienchen summ herum.
Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz, little bee is buzzing around.
Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand, wer ist die Schönste im ganzen Land?
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful of all?
How to form German diminutives?
Though we mentioned above that German diminutives are usually marked by -chen or -lein, there are a few more rules to learn if you want to form them properly. Here they are!
Final -e:
If adding -chen or -lein to a noun that ends in -e, delete the -e first:
die Blume → das Blümchen
flower → little flower
der Bär → das Bärchen(bear)
die Schwester → das Schwesterlein(sister)
Exception!
If the word ends in a stressed -ee or -ie, don’t drop the vowel before the diminutive ending:
die Fee → das Feechen
fairy → little fairy
das Knie → das Kniechen
knee → little knee
Umlauts:
When the stressed vowel is an a, u, or o, the diminutive will have an umlaut: ä, ü or ö. There are no changes for words with the vowels i or e.
a → ä
der Baum → das Bäumchen
tree → little tree
u → ü
der Arm → das Ärmlein
arm → little arm
o → ö
der Vogel → das Vögelchen
bird → little bird
Double vowels also turn into a single umlaut in the diminutive form:
das Paar → das Pärchen
pair → little pair
No matter what gender the original noun is, its diminutive form is always neuter and therefore takes the das and ein!
neuter diminutive
masculine base noun
der Stuhl(chair)das / ein Stühlchenfeminine base noun
die Feder(feather)das / ein Federchenneuter base noun
das Rad(wheel)das / ein RädchenRemember, if you use an adjective, the adjective now has to agree to the new gender as well.
Plural form:
The plural of a diminutive is the same as the singular. In the plural, they take the definite article die and the zero article for indefinite, because they’re neuter nouns
der Tisch → das Tischchen → die Tischchen
table → little table → little tables
die Flasche → das Fläschchen → die Fläschchen
bottle → little bottle → little bottles
das Schwein → das Schweinchen → die Schweinchen
pig → little pig → little pigs
-lein vs. -chen:
There is no rule as to which nouns take -lein and which take -chen. Oftentimes, both versions are possible.
das Haus → das Häuschen / das Häuslein
house → little house
der Stern → das Sternchen / das Sternlein
star → little star
However, some will take one or the other. We’ll talk a little more about some of the general tendencies below!
Now, let’s look at the suffixes -lein and -chen individually.
When to form diminutives with ‘-chen’?
The diminutive suffix -chen is common in everyday German. It is the most common diminutive suffix for animals and is often used when an animal appears particularly cute or small or when you are talking about an animal to a child.
Das Pferdchen läuft schnell,
The horsey runs fast.
Möchtest du noch ein Käffchen?
Would you like another small coffee?
When to forms diminutives with ‘-lein’?
The diminutive suffix -lein is less common than -chen. It can mostly be found in literature such as nursery rhymes, fairy tales, poems etc. and is still prominent in some German speaking regions (see more on regional variants below).
It’s also more common to use -lein when the base noun ends in -ch, -che, or -g. This is because it would be very difficult to pronounce -ch/-che or -g followed by the -chen suffix.
das Buch → das Büchlein
book → little book
der Trog → das Tröglein
trough → little trough
die Kirche → das Kirchlein
church → little church
Are all words that end in ‘-chen’ or ‘-lein’ diminutive?
Not all words that end in -lein or -chen are diminutives!
Some simply do not have diminutive meanings:
der Kuchen(cake)
das Verbrechen(crime)
das Lachen(laughter)
der Drachen(dragon)
Others end in -chen because they are the plural forms of words that end in -ch(e):
die Küche → die Küchen(kitchen → kitchens)
die Kirche → die Kirchen(church → churches)
In addition to these, some words that are diminutive have taken on a life of their own, and have acquired meanings and forms that have diverged from their original base word over time. In some cases, the non-diminutive word has been lost while the diminutive has been kept. For example:
das Plätzchen(cookie) ← originally from der Platz(place)
das Brötchen(roll) ← from das Brot(bread)
das Mädchen(girl) ← from die Magd(maid)
das Märchen(fairytale) ← from the archaic word die Mär(tale)
Have a look at our German diminutive reference sheet for more examples of words like these.
How do diminutives vary with dialect?
In different dialects and regions, some other diminutive endings and forms might be used. For example:
In Swiss German the main diminutive suffix is -li and the suffix -chen isn’t used at all:
Müüsli(the mousey)
Hündli(the doggy)
In the Bavarian dialect, you come across the suffix -erl to form diminutives:
das Mauserl(the mousey)
das Hunderl(the doggy)
In the Swabian dialect, you hear speakers use -le:
das Mäusle(the mousey)
das Hündle(the doggy)
What are some German fixed expressions with diminutives?
Some fixed greeting expressions in German use -chen diminutives. Those are typically very colloquial and would not be used in formal settings or among people you don’t know very well.
Hallöchen, wie geht‘s?
Hi, how’s it going?
Alles klärchen?
Everything alright?
Additionally, you can find diminutives in some German idioms.
ein Händchen für etwas haben
to have the magic touch for something
sich ins Fäustchen lachen
to laugh in one’s sleeve
Summary
In this article we talked about German diminutives. Here are the main things to remember:
Diminutives are the small, cute, pitiable, childish, young, or sympathetic versions of nouns.
In German, they are mostly formed by adding -chen or -lein. Also make these changes when adding the ending:
Delete a final -e from the stem.
Add umlauts to a, o, u, and replace double vowels with a single vowel with an umlaut.
Diminutives with -chen or -lein are always neuter and they look the same in the singular and plural.
In some dialects you may see other diminutive endings like -erl, -li and -le.
Are you ready to practice? Head over to our German diminutive activities to test your knowledge!
