Small
Little
い adjective
This kanji has hiragana attached and ends with an い sound. That means it's probably an adjective (and it is!). So, if you take the kanji 小 and its meaning (small), you can figure out the adjective version of it. What is the adjective version of "small?" Actually, it's the same thing: small.
ちいさい
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you to remember the ちい portion:
When you think of the word small, try to think of this cheese (ちい) store. You go inside, and all of their cheeses are so small. They hand you a magnifying glass to see all the cheeses. You look at them and exclaim: "Why are these cheeses so small???"
このふくは、わたしには小さいです。
These clothes are small on me.
このクラスには、まだ小さい子もいれば、大人のように大きい子もいる。
In this class, there are kids who are still small while there are kids who are as tall as adults.
ぼくのりそうのマリモは、小さい玉ねぎのようなマリモだ。
My ideal marimo would look like a small onion.