Languages › Italian Italian Adjectives Learn how to make your Italian more descriptive Share Flipboard Email Print Young woman in Italy with scooter. Westend61 / Getty Images Italian Vocabulary History & Culture Grammar Table of Contents Expand Common Italian Adjectives Ending in -O Endings of -E Adjectives Italian Adjectives Ending in -E Forming Plural Adjectives By Cher Hale Italian Language Expert B.A., University of Nevada–Las Vegas Cher Hale is the founder of The Iceberg Project, a language-learning platform for students of the Italian language. She also hosts the 30 Minute Italian podcast. our editorial process Cher Hale Updated January 30, 2019 The big piazza, the clear sky, and the handsome Italian man are all examples with an adjective, or something that gives more information about a noun. Oftentimes this is a description. In Italian an adjective agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies, and there are two groups of adjectives: those ending in -o and those ending in -e. Adjectives ending in -o in the masculine have four forms: Maschile Femminile Singolare -o -a Plurale -i -e Singolare il libro italiano la signora italiana Plurale i libri italiani le signore italiane Singolare il primo giorno la mesa universitaria Plurale i primi giorni le mense universitarie COMMON ITALIAN ADJECTIVES ENDING IN -O allegro cheerful, happy buono good, kind cattivo bad, wicked freddo cold grasso fat leggero light nuovo new pieno full stretto narrow timido timid, shy Adjectives ending in -o have four forms: masculine singular, masculine plural, feminine singular, and feminine plural. Observe how the adjectives nero and cattivo change to agree with nouns they modify. Note that when an adjective modifies two nouns of different gender, it keeps its masculine ending. For example: i padri e le madre italiani (Italian fathers and mothers). If an adjectives ends in -io, like "vecchio - old", the o is dropped to form the plural. l'abito vecchio - the old suit gli abiti vecchi - the old suits il ragazzo serio - the serious boy i ragazzi seri - the serious boys Uli è tedesco. - Uli is German. Adriana è italiana. - Adriana is Italian. Roberto e Daniele sono americani. - Robert and Daniel are American. Svetlana e Natalia sono russe. - Svetlana and Natalia are Russian. Adjectives ending in -e are the same for the masculine and the feminine singular. In the plural, the -e changes to an -i, whether the noun is masculine or feminine. il ragazzo inglese - the English boy la ragazza inglese - the English girl i ragazzi inglesi - the English boys le ragazze inglesi - the English girls ENDINGS OF -E ADJECTIVES SINGULAR PLURAL il ragazzo triste - the sad boy i ragazzi tristi - the sad boys la ragazza triste - the sad girl le ragazze tristi - the sad girls ITALIAN ADJECTIVES ENDING IN -E abile able difficile difficult felice happy forte strong grande big, large, great importante important intelligente intelligent interessante interesting triste sad veloce fast, speedy There are quite a few other exceptions for forming plural adjectives. For instance, adjectives that end in -io (with the stress falling on that ) form the plural with the ending -ii: addio/addii; leggio/leggii; zio/zii. The table below contains a chart of other irregular adjective endings you should know. FORMING PLURAL ADJECTIVES SINGULAR ENDING PLURAL ENDING -ca -che -cia -ce -cio -ci -co -chi -ga -ghe -gia -ge -gio -gi -glia -glie -glio -gli -go -ghi -scia -sce -scio -sci Where do the adjectives go? Unlike in English, descriptive adjectives in Italian are usually placed after the noun they modify, and with which they agree in gender and number. 1. Adjectives generally follow the noun. È una lingua difficile. - It is a difficult language. Marina è una ragazza generosa. - Marina is a generous girl. Non trovo il maglione rosa. - I can't find the pink sweater. TIP: Note that adjectives of colors that derive from nouns, like “rosa”, “viola”, or “blu” are invariable. 2. Certain common adjectives, however, generally come before the noun. Here are the most common: bello - beautiful bravo - good, able brutto - ugly buono - good caro - dear cattivo - bad giovane - young grande - large; great TIP: When you place “grande” before a noun, it means “great”, like “una grande piazza”, but if you place it after, it means “big”, like “una piazza grande”. lungo - long nuovo - new piccolo - small, little stesso - same vecchio - old vero - true Here are some examples: Anna è una cara amica. - Anna is a dear friend. Gino è un bravissimo dottore. - Gino is a really good doctor. È un brutto affare. - It's a bad situation. But even these adjectives must follow the noun to emphasize or contrast something, and when modified by an adverb. Oggi non porta l'abito vecchio, porta un abito nuovo. - Today he is not wearing the old suit, he is wearing a new suit. Abitano in una casa molto piccola. - They live in a very small house. Click here, here and here to get practice with adjectives. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Hale, Cher. "Italian Adjectives." ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/italian-adjectives-4063126. Hale, Cher. (2021, February 16). Italian Adjectives. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/italian-adjectives-4063126 Hale, Cher. "Italian Adjectives." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/italian-adjectives-4063126 (accessed April 13, 2021). copy citation