Ka-pi96 said:
So instead of saying "you're an ugly bastard!" you'd say "you're a little ugly bastard!" to be more friendly? |
That would be kleinerend (belittling), the right to say that in Dutch would be hardnekkig klootzakje. (literally 'persistent little ball sack') But you could say, Je bent wel een vervelend mannetje vandaag, you're acting a little nasty today. That sounds more friendly while telling someone to cut out the bullshit.
Adding 'je' is more for making the world seem more friendly, een stormpje, a little storm instead of batten the hatches kiss your ass goodbye. The Dutch use it for everything, een hapje eten (getting a bite to eat), boodschapje doen (getting groceries). Slaapje / dutje doen, getting some sleep.
Quora describes it much better:
It’s a diminutive form - but it is much more than that. The Dutch also use it to make things sound “cute”, and they do it so extensively that the meaning can substantially change, or has become the standard form. For instance,
Meisje (“little maid”) is the standard form for “girl” whereas the original meid either means “domestic help” (now becoming obsolete), or is used in a pejorative context (een meid uit de achterbuurt, ‘a girl from the slums’) or is used with adjectives of “big/great” or “brave”: grote meid! when a little girl has done something clever.
Koopje (“bargain”) from koop (“purchase”) - but koop itself is only used with adjectives expressing “good”: een goede koop. (The normal forms for non-bargain purchases are derivatives of koop: aankoop, inkoop).
Prijsje (from prijs, price) is of course used by market vendors to express that he makes you a deal so low that money hardly comes into it: you are getting a koopje.
Mannetje (little man) not surprisingly can be highly derogatory, but in the expression staat zijn mannetje (“stands up for himself”, “stands his ground”) it is expressing admiration.
Dubbeltje was a 10 cent coin in the Dutch Guilder era, of which nobody knew the origin and therefore any connection with the adjective dubbel (“double”) was lost. Indeed it was a very small coin. (Centuries ago the common small denomination was a 5-cent piece, like the “sou” in France; hence the “double”).
You will give someone a cadeautje (“little gift”) but — unless it was indeed very, very small — you thank the giver for the cadeau in return.
Unlike in English, all children's toys are commonly referred to with diminutives: beertje for a teddy bear, treintje for toy train. And kusje (“little kiss”) is like a good night kiss, perfunctory almost, whereas kus suggests to me something with an audible component.
It’s a very useful tool…
