How can i use niñito to indicate cariño?

Question

When the suffix ito is added to niño like niñito, how could i use that in a sentence to indicate love (cariño)? how about the same for jovencito/cita and ahorita (ahora)? Not sure how to indicate love from those diminutives?

Answer 1

Diminutives are used in Spanish much more than English and they indicate a wide variety of things including affection towards someone or something. All you have to do to indicate love towards a child is use "niñito" instead of "niño" when you are addressing the child. This is one of the reasons diminutives are used in the first place.

Answer 2

the suffic -ito usually means little/small of whatever you're saying. so cariño (love) --> cariñito becomes little love/little sweetheart, in an affectionate way. jovencito is generally used to mean young person and ahorita is like right now (instead of now).