How to use Small & Little

By Keith Taylor, TEFL teacher trainer and co-founder of Eslbase
Updated 4 December, 2024

Forming sentences with Small and Little

Small and little are both adjectives.

  1. Small is used to talk about the size of something.
    • Your cat is very small.
    • Can I have two small pizzas please?
  2. Little can be used in the same way as small to refer to size, but it can also be used with another adjective to express an emotion.
    • He’s a clever little boy.
    • Nobody’s looking after that poor little dog.

Additional points

In comparative and superlative form, small is more common in British English, and little is more common in American English.

  • That’s the smallest phone I’ve ever seen. (more common in British English)
  • That’s the littlest phone I’ve ever seen. (more common in American English)

Related grammar points

Few and Little

Was this article helpful?

Keith Taylor

Keith is the co-founder of Eslbase and School of TEFL. He is Cambridge DELTA qualified, with over 20 years’ experience teaching English and training new TEFL teachers in Indonesia, Australia, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, and now the UK. Drawing on his classroom and training experience, he shares practical teaching ideas and advice for EFL teachers through articles and resources on Eslbase.

Grammar for English Teachers

Learn everything you need to feel confident with grammar as a teacher. Created by experienced TEFL trainers.
Online course - Save £30 in October

2 comments

  • sondra white

    May small and little be used as if both adjectives are used together to define a single object?

  • Keith profile photo
    A
    Keith Taylor

    Yes, you can use both adjectives together to define a single noun.

Leave your comment