Afrikaans loves the diminutive: -tjie, -jie, -kie, -etjie, -pie turn almost any noun into a smaller, fonder, or friendlier version. Which ending a stem takes (the allomorph choice) is covered separately on diminutive rules. This page is about something narrower but just as trap-laden: once you know which ending to add, how do you spell the result? Three spelling complications account for nearly every mistake learners make — the apostrophe after vowel-final loanwords, the consonant doubling in -etjie forms, and the ng-to-nk shift before -kie. Get these three and your diminutives will look native.
The apostrophe: keeping a final vowel separate
When a noun ends in a single stressed vowel letter — almost always a borrowed word — Afrikaans inserts an apostrophe before the -tjie ending. The apostrophe is not decoration; it is a hiatus-breaker, exactly the same job the diaeresis (trema) does in the middle of a word. It signals: read the final vowel on its own; do not blend it into the suffix.
| Stem | Diminutive | English |
|---|---|---|
| foto | foto'tjie | little photo |
| baba | baba'tjie | little baby |
| ski | ski'tjie | little ski |
| taxi | taxi'tjie | little taxi |
| radio | radio'tjie | little radio |
| menu | menu'tjie | little menu |
Wys my die foto'tjie van die baba'tjie.
Show me the little photo of the little baby.
Sy't 'n splinternuwe radio'tjie vir haar kar gekoop.
She bought a brand-new little radio for her car.
The logic: without the apostrophe, fototjie would invite the reader to misjudge where the stem ends and the suffix begins, and the single final vowel could be misread. The apostrophe pins the seam. This is the same principle that gives Afrikaans the diaeresis in words like reën and koöperasie — wherever two vowels would otherwise be misread as one sound, Afrikaans marks the break. The diminutive just applies it at the word-suffix join. The general apostrophe rules live on the apostrophe.
Consonant doubling in -etjie forms
Stems ending in a short vowel plus a single l, m, n, r, or ng take the -etjie ending — and here the spelling forces you to double the final consonant. The reason is purely a spelling convention, but a strict one: in Afrikaans, a single vowel letter in an open syllable is read long. To keep the stem vowel short when you add -etjie, you must close the syllable by doubling the consonant.
| Stem | Diminutive | English | Why doubled |
|---|---|---|---|
| man | mannetjie | little man | keep the a short |
| kam | kammetjie | little comb | keep the a short |
| ster | sterretjie | little star | keep the e short |
| bom | bommetjie | little bomb | keep the o short |
| pan | pannetjie | little pan | keep the a short |
Daar staan 'n klein mannetjie by die deur.
There's a little man standing at the door.
Gee vir my 'n pannetjie om die eiers in te bak.
Give me a little pan to fry the eggs in.
Elke aand kyk sy na die sterretjies.
Every evening she looks at the little stars.
Compare man (one n) with mannetjie (two): the doubling is what tells the reader the a stays short, as in the original word. If you wrote manetjie, the single a in the open syllable would be read long, like the a in maan (moon). The general principle is on consonant doubling.
When the vowel is already long: single consonant
The flip side: if the stem already has a long vowel — written with a doubled vowel letter or a digraph — you do not add an extra consonant, because the vowel is supposed to stay long. The -tjie ending attaches directly.
| Stem | Diminutive | English |
|---|---|---|
| boom (long oo) | boompie | little tree |
| traan (long aa) | traantjie | little tear |
| stoel (oe) | stoeltjie | little chair |
And note the plural of -pie/-tjie diminutives is -s: boompie → boompies, stoeltjie → stoeltjies. The diminutive plural is always -s, never -e, regardless of how the base noun pluralises.
Die kinders het al die boompies in die tuin geplant.
The children planted all the little trees in the garden.
Ons sit op die ou houtstoeltjies onder die boom.
We're sitting on the old little wooden chairs under the tree.
ng becomes nk before -kie
A small but reliable shift: stems ending in -ing take the -kie ending, and the g surfaces as k — so -ing becomes -inkie. This is not a random spelling choice; it reflects how the sound actually changes when the k of the suffix meets the ng of the stem.
| Stem | Diminutive | English |
|---|---|---|
| koning | koninkie | little king |
| ring | rinkie | little ring |
| ding | dingetjie | little thing (note: takes -etjie!) |
Die koninkie in die sprokie was nog 'n kind.
The little king in the fairy tale was still a child.
Wat is daardie klein dingetjie op die tafel?
What is that little thing on the table?
Watch the trap in that last row: ding does not become dinkie — it takes -etjie to give dingetjie, with the ng kept whole. The ng → nk shift applies to the -ing stems that take -kie, like koning → koninkie and ring → rinkie; ding is the exception that takes -etjie instead. Which ending a stem selects is, again, the allomorph question of diminutive rules; here just note that where -kie lands after -ing, the spelling becomes -inkie.
Common mistakes
❌ fototjie
Incorrect — a vowel-final loan stem needs the hiatus-breaking apostrophe.
✅ foto'tjie
little photo
❌ manetjie
Incorrect — without doubling, the single a is read long (like 'maan').
✅ mannetjie
little man
❌ boompietjie / boompie's
Incorrect — diminutive plurals add a plain -s: boompies, no apostrophe.
✅ boompies
little trees
❌ dinkie
Incorrect — ding takes -etjie and keeps the ng: dingetjie.
✅ dingetjie
little thing
❌ koningtjie
Incorrect — an -ing stem takes -kie, and ng surfaces as nk: koninkie.
✅ koninkie
little king
Key takeaways
- A vowel-final loan stem takes an apostrophe before -tjie: foto'tjie, baba'tjie, radio'tjie — the same hiatus-breaker as the diaeresis.
- -etjie forms double the final consonant to keep the stem vowel short: man → mannetjie, bom → bommetjie.
- A stem with an already-long vowel keeps a single consonant: boom → boompie, traan → traantjie.
- The diminutive plural is always -s: boompie → boompies, never -e and never with an apostrophe.
- -ing stems that take -kie spell as -inkie (koning → koninkie, ring → rinkie), but ding takes -etjie → dingetjie.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Choosing the Diminutive EndingA2 — How the final sound of a word selects among the diminutive suffixes -ie, -tjie, -etjie, -jie, -kie and -pie — a fully phonological rule you can derive.
- The Apostrophe: 'n and Clipped FormsA1 — Every use of the Afrikaans apostrophe — the article 'n, sentence-initial capitalisation, clipped forms like dis, and foreign-stem diminutives.
- Consonant DoublingA2 — Why a single consonant doubles after a short vowel when an ending is added — kat becomes katte — and how it mirrors vowel doubling.
- What Diminutives Mean: Smallness, Affection, PragmaticsB1 — The diminutive in Afrikaans does far more than mark smallness — it carries affection, politeness, softening, intimacy, and dismissal, making it a core rapport device.
- Vowel Doubling and Syllable StructureA1 — Why a long vowel is written double in a closed syllable but single in an open one, and how it mirrors consonant doubling.