How to make adjectives agree - Easy Learning Grammar Italian
1 The basics
- When you look up an adjective in a dictionary you find the masculine singular form.
- If you want to use an adjective to describe a feminine noun you often have to change the ending.
- If you want to use an adjective to describe a plural noun you nearly always have
to change the ending.
2 How to make adjectives feminine
- If the masculine adjective ends in –o, change –o to –a.
un ragazzo simpatico | a nice boy |
una ragazza simpatica | a nice girl |
un film italiano | an Italian film |
una squadra italiana | an Italian team |
- You don’t change the ending for the feminine:
- if the masculine adjective ends in –e
un libro inglese | an English book |
una famiglia inglese | an English family |
un treno veloce | a fast train |
una macchina veloce | a fast car |
- Note that adjectives such as italiano, inglese, francese do not start with
a capital letter in Italian.
- in the case of some colours
un calzino rosa | a pink sock |
una maglietta rosa | a pink T-shirt |
un tappeto blu | a blue rug |
una macchina blu | a blue car |
un vestito beige | a beige suit |
una gonna beige | a beige skirt |
- Note that these adjectives don’t change in the plural either.
- if the adjective ends with a consonant
un gruppo pop | a pop group |
la musica pop | pop music |
un tipo snob | a posh guy |
una persona snob | a posh person |
- Note that these adjectives don’t change in the plural either.
TipIf you are female, make sure you always use a feminine adjective when talking about yourself:
Sono stanca. | I’m tired. |
Sono pronta. | I’m ready. |
3 How to make adjectives plural
- If the masculine singular adjective ends in –o, change –o to –i.
un fiore rosso | a red flower |
dei fiori rossi | red flowers |
un computer nuovo | a new computer |
dei computer nuovi | new computers |
- If the feminine singular adjective ends in –a, change –a to –e.
una strada pericolosa | a dangerous road |
delle strade pericolose | dangerous roads |
una gonna nera | a black skirt |
delle gonne nere | black skirts |
- If the adjective ends in –e, change –e to –i for both masculine and feminine plural.
un esercizio difficile | a difficult exercise |
degli esercizi difficili | difficult exercises |
un sito interessante | an interesting site |
dei siti interessanti | interesting sites |
una storia triste | a sad story |
delle storie tristi | sad stories |
una valigia pesante | a heavy case |
delle valigie pesanti | heavy cases |
- Some adjectives do not change in the plural.
un paio di guanti rosa | a pair of pink gloves |
delle tende blu | blue curtains |
dei gruppi pop | pop groups |
- Adjectives that do not change for the feminine or plural are called invariable, which is abbreviated to inv in some dictionaries.
TipRemember that spaghetti, ravioli, lasagne and so on are plural nouns in Italian, so you must use plural adjectives with them.
Sono buoni gli spaghetti? | Is the spaghetti nice? |
Le lasagne sono finite. | The lasagne is all gone. |
- Note that when you’re describing a couple consisting of a man and a woman
or a group of people, use a masculine plural adjective unless the group consists entirely of females.
Paolo e Loredana sono pronti. | Paolo and Loredana are ready. |
I bambini sono stanchi. | The children are tired. |
Le ragazze sono stanche. | The girls are tired. |
4 Irregular adjectives
- There are three very common adjectives which are different from other adjectives
– bello, buono and grande. - When the adjective bello (meaning beautiful) is used in front of a masculine
noun it has different forms depending on which letter follows it, just like the definite article.
bello | Masculine Singular | Feminine Singular | Masculine Plural | Feminine Plural |
used before a noun | bel | bella | bei | belle |
used after a verb or a noun | bello | bella | belli | belle |
bel tempo | beautiful weather |
bei nomi | beautiful names |
Il tempo era bello. | The weather was beautiful. |
I fiori sono belli. | The flowers are beautiful. |
- bell’ is used before vowels in the masculine and feminine singular forms.
un bell’albero | a beautiful tree |
- bello is used in front of z and s + another consonant in the masculine singular form.
un bello strumento | a beautiful instrument |
- begli is used in front of vowels, z and s + another consonant in the masculine plural form.
begli alberi | beautiful trees |
begli strumenti | beautiful instruments |
- The adjective buono (meaning good) is usually shortened to buon when it comes before a masculine singular noun.
Buon viaggio! | Have a good journey! |
un buon uomo | a good man |
- The shortened form of buono is not used in front of nouns that start with z or s
+ another consonant.
un buono studente | a good student |
- The adjective grande (meaning big, large or great) is often shortened to gran when it comes before a singular noun starting with a consonant.
la Gran Bretagna | Great Britain |
un gran numero di macchine | a large number of cars |
Key points
- In Italian adjectives agree with the person or thing they are describing.
- Adjectives ending in –o in the masculine have different endings in the feminine and plural forms.
- Some adjectives don’t have a different feminine or plural form.
5 Where do you put the adjective?
- You put most adjectives AFTER the noun.
un gesto spontaneo | a spontaneous gesture |
una partita importante | an important match |
capelli biondi | blonde hair |
- Note that if you have two adjectives you link them with e (meaning and).
ragazze antipatiche e | nasty rude girls |
maleducate |
- The meaning of some adjectives changes depending on whether they come
after or before the noun.
gente povera | poor people BUT |
Povera Anna! | Poor (meaning unfortunate) Anna! |
un uomo grande | a big man BUT |
una grande sorpresa | a great surprise |
una macchina nuova | a new car BUT |
la sua nuova ragazza | his new (meaning latest) girlfriend |
una casa vecchia | an old house BUT |
un mio vecchio amico | an old (meaning long-standing) friend of mine |
una borsa cara | an expensive handbag BUT |
un caro amico | a dear friend |
- Note that if you add molto (meaning very) to an adjective, the adjective always goes after the noun.
una bella casa | a nice house |
una casa molto bella | a very nice house |
- Some types of adjectives always go in front of the noun:
- adjectives that are used to point things out, such as questo (meaning this) and quello (meaning that)
Questo telefonino è di mio fratello. | This mobile phone is my brother’s. |
Quello studente è un mio amico. | That student is a friend of mine. |
- For more information on Demonstrative adjectives, see Demonstrative adjectives.
- possessive adjectives such as mio (meaning my), tuo (meaning your) and
suo (meaning his or her)
mio padre | my father |
tuo fratello | your brother |
suo marito | her husband |
- ogni (meaning each, every), qualche (meaning some) and nessuno (meaning no)
ogni giorno | every day |
qualche volta | sometimes |
Non c’è nessun bisogno di andare. | There’s no need to go. |
- For more information on Indefinite adjectives, see Indefinite adjectives.
- question words
Quali programmi hai? | What plans have you got? |
Quanto pane hai comprato? | How much bread did you buy? |
- For more information on Questions, see Questions.
Key points
- Most Italian adjectives go after the noun.
- The meaning of some adjectives changes depending on whether they come before or after the noun.