Un pocito = Un poco ?

Question

On holiday in Spain I used "entiendo un poco" and I was corrected with "un pocito". Does this mean very little?

I'm confused by this as well. when I look up both poco and poquito - both can be nouns meaning "little bit" - cdprater, AGO 26, 2009

Answer 1

HI Lisa, they were saying:

Un poquito

Well, not really very little, poquito is the diminutive form , so they were trying to be kind

poquísimo would be very little.

Answer 2

A pocito is a little pozo. A pozo is a well or tank, so 'pocito' roughly translates as 'swimming hole'.

Answer 3

And that's your random grammar lesson of the day! tongue laugh

Also, the /k/ (like "c" in "car") sound can be sometimes achieved in three different ways:

• c
• qu
• k

If you can use "c" in Spanish for that sound, you normally avoid the other two, so "caro" would never be "quaro" (that would be a different sound), and it will not be "karo" unless it is a foreign spelling. The "k" is not part of the original Latin alphabet (it is Greek)

For the sound "k" in "ki" you can't use "c" in Spanish, so you use "qu", as in "quiero" instead (the second of the list).

So, when do you use the "k"? In foreign words, like "kilo" (also written "quilo").

A similar rule exists for "c" and "z" for the Peninsular sound "th" (note: this explanation is useless if you use the typical Latin American pronunciation):

• c
• z

If you can use "c" for this sound, as in "cero", never use the "z".

If you can't use "c" for this sound, as in "zapato", then "z" is a must. In verbal forms, such as "cazar", you cannot use a "c", as "cacar" would sound like "cakar", but when you say "cace", although you can use "caze", the "c" has priority, since the "z" is not part of the original Latin alphabet (it is Greek).

Answer 4

Yes.... on a somewhat related grammar/pronunciation lesson, taken from an answer I gave to a post a few months ago:

Any verb that ends in -gar changes to -gue/-guen in the Ud./Uds. command form, in order to maintain the original pronunciation of the infinitive. The letter "g" in front of the vowels "a", "o", and "u" (hard vowels) create a hard sound; in front of "e" and "i" (soft vowels) it is pronounced with a soft sound (such as the g in "gente"). So, since the "g" in "llegar" is hard, you must use "-gue" or "-guen", for the Ud./Uds. command form, to maintain that hard sound. The "g" in "llege" would be soft, not hard like "lleGAR".

Thus: the tu command form of llegar is: "llega" (formed simply by using the el/ella/Ud. form of "llegar"), the Ud. form is "llegue", and the Uds. form is "lleguen."

Side Note: Verbs that end in "-car" change to "-que/quen" in the Ud./Uds. command form; verbs that end in "-zar", change to "-ce/cen" in the Ud./Uds. command form.

That would explain why "pocito" would change to "poquito". The "root word", so to say, is "poco", with the "c" being pronounced with a hard sound. The "c" in "pocito" would be pronounced with a soft sound, like an "s". Thus, to maintain the pronunciation of the "c" in "poco", "qu" is used in place of just "c". Thus... poco --> poquito.

And that's your random grammar lesson of the day!