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Aggettivi
One of the eight parts of speech, adjectives are a type of modifier; that is, they modify or describe nouns in a certain way, letting you know the size, shape, weight, color, nationality, or any of a myriad other possible qualities of nouns.
Adjectives serve the same purpose in Italian and English, but they are very different in other respects.
Characteristics of Italian Adjectives
- Modify nouns
- Must agree in gender and number with nouns
- Usually follow nouns
- May be modified by adverbs
Gender and Number of Italian Adjectives
English adjectives have a single form, but Italian adjectives can have up to 4 forms, according to the gender and number of the nouns they modify:
| masculine singular | masculine plural | |
| feminine singular | feminine plural |
If you’ve already studied the noun lesson, some of these rules will look familiar.
1) Masculine singular is the default form and usually ends in -o. This changes to -a for feminine singular, -i for masculine plural, and -e for feminine plural.
Per esempio…
alto (tall)
| alto | alti | |
| alta | alte |
2) When the masculine adjective ends in -a, there is no difference between masculine and feminine singular. The masculine plural is created by changing -a to -i, the feminine plural to –e.
entusiasta (enthusiastic)
| entusiasta | entusiasti | |
| entusiasta | entusiaste |
3) When the masculine adjective ends in -e, there is no difference between the masculine and feminine forms. The plural is created by changing -e to -i.
facile (easy)
| facile | facili | |
| facile | facili |
4) Masculine adjectives that end in –co or –go change to –ca / –ga for feminine singular. Masculine plural is usually –chi* / –ghi, while feminine plural is always –che / –ghe.
stanco (tired)
| stanco | stanchi | |
| stanca | stanche |
largo (wide)
| largo | larghi | |
| larga | larghe |
* Adjectives with 3 or more syllables with stress on the antepenultimate (3rd from last) syllable change –co to –ci for masculine plural.
automatico (automatic)
| automatico | automatici | |
| automatica | automatiche |
Related lessons
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Ciao! I’m Laura K Lawless, creator, writer, editor, and CLO (Chief Lawless Officer) of this free online Italian learning site. Lawless Italian is an official Lawless Languages site.
