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[clownshoes.livejournal.com]

What is немного vs немножко?

Comments

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

It's just style - немножко sounds more childish; it is definitely more colloquial than немного; it's a word you expect from a child or a girl, but not from a big rude male :)

[clownshoes.livejournal.com]

Oh, my book lists both, but didn't explain the difference :P

[oblomov-jerusal.livejournal.com]

A big rude male would use немножко when speaking ironically.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

...especially when speaking to a girl or to a baby, that's right :)
I said that one wouldn't EXPECT that from a big rude male, not that a B.R.M. wouldn't use that.

[brocster.livejournal.com]

Actually, I would prefer to think of немножко as a simple diminutive of немного.

Here's another example (using the same consonant alternation of к ~ г):

книгa --> книжкa (with a further diminutive form --> книжечкa)

While it's true that diminutives are extremely common when used in conversation with or by children, they can also help convey a speaker's "emotional attachment" or stance towards a particular noun (or adjective) -- especially when used with personal names. (That's why you wouldn't expect немножко to be spoken by a "big rude male". But I have heard literate, intelligent, well-spoken adults use diminutives in "normal" [i.e., non-children-related] environments.)

Diminutives can also be used in their "literal" meaning -- "(a) small...". Compare книгa ("book") with:

зaписнaя книжкa -- notebook
чековaя книжкa -- checkbook


Just some more food for thought.

- Andrew

[ashalynd.livejournal.com]

For me, немного is a slightly less colloquial and more official/literate form than немножко.

There is also немножечко and чуть-чуть :)