Question about the use of diminutive in Spanish

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Sera Trevor

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One of my characters is being sneaky, so another character teasingly calls him a little snake. Snake is serpiente in Spanish, so could he be called "serpiencito" using the diminutive? This would be Mexican Spanish if it makes a difference.
 

Stytch

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My Spanish is functional but I'm not a native speaker. I think it would be serpientecita or serpientita. "Serpiencito"seems like it leaves off too many letters from the root word. Also, the noun is feminine, and I'm not sure if when you use a feminine noun pejoratively on a male, that you'd change the gender to match. I *think* it'd stay feminine. (LOL Patriarchy)

...Random google thing also tells me that many Mexican Spanish speakers avoid this word because it sounds too much like serviente. No idea if that's true, though they do sound similar. Culebra is another word, no idea how popular in Mexico. There are also other "snake" words. Just like any language, Spanish is rife with double entendres, with all sorts of variations through the many countries that speak Spanish. Strongly suggest you find a native speaker or two to run through all your Spanish at some point, especially when you're talking about phallic things like snakes.
 

Ari Meermans

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Like Stytch, I suggest finding a native Spanish speaker. But do ask them what they'd call someone who is a "little sneak". Idioms don't always translate well—especially word-for-word translations—because of context and cultural differences. If you call someone "a little snake" or a "snake in the grass", I know exactly what you mean by that idiom because it's an English-language idiom. Someone who speaks another language or who belongs to a different culture might call a sneaky person something other than a snake.
 

MsVibey

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Late to the party here, but someone who is a little sneaky wouldn’t be called a snake in Spanish - they’d be called a fox. The diminutive would be zorrito (m.) or zorrita (f.).

It’s a good reminder that when using words from another language you shouldn’t just think of translating: you should also think of interpreting, ie. adjusting the words to context (in this case, cultural) to retain the meaning.
 

donatos

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Super late to the party but my favorite expression in Mexican spanish for a little sneak is a chingaquedito. It literally means "chinga=to fu*k, quedito=quietly/gently." Someone who's going to fu*k you but on the sly.
 
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