How do adjectives work in Italian?
Just like nounsNo definition set for nounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in Italian, adjectivesNo definition set for adjectivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. usually have different endings depending on whether they’re singularNo definition set for singularLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. or pluralNo definition set for pluralLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., feminineNo definition set for feminineLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. or masculine.No definition set for masculine.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Unlike English, they are usually positioned after the noun. In this post, we’ll review how to make adjectives agree with nouns and adjective order. Let’s take a look!
Table of Contents
How do adjectives work?
Adjectives work to describe a nounNo definition set for nounLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. First, let’s review: what’s an adjective? It’s a word used to describe things, persons, animals, actions, places, ideas, etc. Adjectives can be used for any type of description: colors, feelings, categories, possession, quantity, and more. If there’s anything you need to describe, there’s an adjective available at your fingertips. For example: il muro bianco(the white wall), l’ottima pizza(the excellent pizza).
How to make adjectives agree in Italian?
To make adjectives agreeNo definition set for agreeLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in Italian, you need to make sure they have a form that reflects the genderNo definition set for genderLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. and numberNo definition set for numberLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. of the noun to which they refer. That is, adjectives and other parts of a sentence need to change their endings in order to “match” the noun. Let’s “count down” the different adjective endings with the...endings countdown!
Adjectives with 4 endings
This type of adjective can have 4 different endings: -o, -a, -i and -e. Let’s see when to use them.
Ending | Gender/number | Example |
|---|---|---|
-o | Masculine / singular | Ho un maglione morbido. I have a soft sweater. |
-a | Feminine / singular | Hai una giacca leggera. You have a light jacket. |
-i | Masculine / plural | Questi pantaloni sono grandi. These trousers are big. |
-e | Feminine / plural | Le camicie sono rosse. The shirts are red. |
One thing that learners of Italian often struggle with, is that the noun and the adjective don’t necessarily have the same ending — please remember that we don’t care about having matching endings, we just care about gender and number: in the example above, maglione is masculine singular, just like morbido, and so they both match in gender and number.
To refresh your memory on the gender and number of Italian nouns, check out these articles: How to distinguish masculine and feminine nouns in Italian? and How to make nouns plural in Italian?
Adjectives with 3 endings
This type of adjective can end in: a, i, or e.
Ending | Gender/number | Example |
|---|---|---|
-a | Masculine / singular | Mio fratello è pessimista. My brother is pessimistic. |
-a | Feminine / singular | Tua figlia è ottimista. Your daughter is optimistic. |
-i | Masculine / plural | Sono ragazzi arrivisti. They’re upstart boys. |
-e | Feminine / plural | Le fan sono entusiaste. The fans are enthusiastic. |
Group “3” doesn’t include many adjectives, and most of the adjectives ending in -sta belong to this group.
Adjective with 2 endings
This type of adjective can end in: e or i.
Ending | Gender/number | Example |
|---|---|---|
-e | Masculine / singular | Chi è l’attuale presidente? Who is the current president? |
-e | Feminine / singular | Questa storia è terrificante! This story is terrifying! |
-i | Masculine / plural | Sto leggendo articoli interessanti. I’m reading interesting articles. |
-i | Feminine / plural | Negli USA ci sono città enormi. In the US there are huge cities. |
Most adjectives belong to the “4 ending” and “2 ending” groups, so if you memorize these rules, you’ll be able to make adjectives agree in most cases...not too bad, right?!
But what about the last group? Well, there’s a handful of adjectives that are invariable: they have the same form in the singular, plural, masculine, and feminine. Some adjectives for color belong to this group, along with all adjectives borrowed from other languages:
Adjectives with 1 ending
This type of adjective has only one ending, meaning they don’t change!
Adjective | Gender / number | Example |
|---|---|---|
blu blue | Masculine | Amo il mare blu. I love the blue sea. |
Feminine | Posso usare la penna blu? Can I use the blue pen? | |
Masculine | Giovanna ha i capelli blu! Giovanna has blue hair! | |
Feminine | Dove sono le chiavi blu? Where are the blue keys? | |
light fat-free | Masculine | Non mi piace il formaggio light. I don’t like fat-free cheese. |
Feminine | Devo comprare la mozzarella light. I must buy the fat-free mozzarella. | |
Masculine | Mia mamma non cucina gli spaghetti light. My mom doesn’t cook fat-free spaghetti. | |
Feminine | Oggi mangio le lasagne light. Today I’m eating fat-free lasagna. | |
beige beige | Masculine | Guarda il cappotto beige! Look at the beige coat! |
Feminine | I documenti sono nella cartella beige. The documents are in the beige folder. | |
Masculine | Non ho pantaloni beige. I don’t have beige trousers. | |
Feminine | Voglio vendere le scarpe beige. I want to sell the beige shoes. |
After reading about these rules, you may want to learn some more adjectives in order to practice and enrich your vocabulary. I usually recommend studying adjectives in context, divided into different topics, like adjectives related to food, sports, work, school, etc. Check out these tables and exercises to try and memorize some of them!
What’s the adjective order in Italian?
The order of adjectives is different in Italian — they can come after the noun or before. In English, adjectives almost always come before the noun:
The American movie
The excellent company
In Italian, that’s not always the case:
Il film americano
L’ottima compagnia
So, how do we decide where to put the adjectives? Most of the time, it doesn’t really matter. Generally, adjectives go after the noun in Italian, but they can also be placed before the noun without affecting its meaning:
Una ragazza simpatica / una simpatica ragazza
a nice girl
Un dibattito interessante / un interessante dibattito
an interesting debate
However, there are a few rules to keep in mind:
The word abbastanza has two meanings: “quite” and “enough.” Adjectives always follow abbastanza when used as “quite,” but they can precede or follow it when used as “enough”:
Il mio cane è abbastanza vivace.
My dog is quite lively.
Oggi non sono felice abbastanza! / Oggi non sono abbastanza felice!
Today I’m not happy enough!
Color and nationality adjectives always follow the noun:
il computer viola
the purple computer
lo spettacolo francese
the French show
When using more than one adjective, as a rule of thumb, remember that subjective information usually precedes the noun, while objective information follows it:
- subjective informationobjective information
l’incredibile atleta statunitense
the incredible US athlete
- subjective informationobjective information
la deliziosa acqua frizzante
the delicious sparkling water
We can see how the order of the adjectives, in these examples, is the same as in English — when in doubt, use multiple adjectives in the same order as you would in English, but keep the noun in the middle!
Multiple adjectives can also follow the noun, separated by commas or e(and):
l’oceano immenso e blu
the huge (and) blue ocean
la ditta storica, italiana e multinazionale
the historical Italian multinational company
In a nutshell, putting the adjectives after the noun is the safest bet, but there are also a few that change meaning depending on their position. Find out more about the adjectives that change meaning here and then practice them with this exercise!
Summing up
In conclusion, let’s keep in mind that:
Adjectives agree with the nouns to which they refer in number and gender;
Adjective endings can be chosen by remembering to which of the four groups they belong;
Adjectives are generally placed after the noun except for the few that change meanings depending on their position.
And most importantly, relax! Enjoy speaking the language spontaneously, Italians will appreciate the effort even when you make mistakes!
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