Adjectives
Basic properties of Italian adjectives:
- They agree in gender and number with the nouns not only when they modify the nouns but also when they are in the predicate of the nouns*.
*Questa è una casa bella. This is a nice house.
*Questa casa è bella. This house is nice.
- Its typical position is after the noun
- The ending is either -a/-o or -e in singular
Adjectives ending in –a/-o
|
singular |
plural |
English (singular) |
|
una casa nuova |
due case nuove |
a new house |
|
un libro nuovo |
due libri nuovi |
a new book |
|
una nave nuova |
due navi nuove |
a new ship |
|
un signore alto |
due signori alti |
a tall man |
|
una città piccola |
due città piccole |
a small town |
The adjectives ending in -o / -a change the ending according to the gender and number of the noun.
Adjectives ending in -e
|
singular |
plural |
English (singular) |
|
una casa grande |
due case grandi |
a big house |
|
un giardino grande |
due giardini grandi |
a large garden |
|
una nave grande |
due navi grandi |
a big ship |
|
un signore elegante |
due signori eleganti |
an elegant man |
|
una signora elegante |
due signore eleganti |
an elegant woman |
As you can see, the adjectives ending in -e in singular have the same ending with both feminine and masculine nouns in singular.
In plural, these adjectives have the ending –i with both feminine and masculine nouns.
Plural: spelling changes
- all the feminine adjectives ending in
-ca / -ga change to -che / -ghe in plural
bianca – bianche larga – larghe
- masculine adjectives ending in
-co change to -chi / -ci (the same rules as for the nouns)
-go change to -ghi
Examples:
|
singular |
plural |
English |
|
ricco |
ricchi |
rich |
|
simpatico |
simpatici |
likeable, nice |
|
largo |
larghi |
wide |
|
lungo |
lunghi |
long |