Italian grammar
Adjectives
Italian adjectives match their noun in gender and number, and they usually come after it. Learn the endings, the spelling changes, buono and bello, and how to form words like altissimo and lentamente.
An Italian adjective changes its ending to match the noun it describes, and it usually comes after that noun. These cards cover agreement, where adjectives go, the special forms of buono and bello, and how to say "very" and "-ly".
Adjectives Ending in -o: Four Forms
Adjectives ending in -o have four forms, one for each gender and number.
| Form | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine singular | -o | il ragazzo alto - the tall boy |
| Masculine plural | -i | i ragazzi alti - the tall boys |
| Feminine singular | -a | la ragazza alta - the tall girl |
| Feminine plural | -e | le ragazze alte - the tall girls |
Most adjectives work this way, including nuovo (new), piccolo (small), rosso (red) and pieno (full).
Adjectives Ending in -e: Two Forms
Adjectives ending in -e are the same for masculine and feminine. They change only in the plural, where -e becomes -i.
| Form | Example |
|---|---|
| Masculine singular | il ragazzo felice - the happy boy |
| Masculine plural | i ragazzi felici - the happy boys |
| Feminine singular | la ragazza felice - the happy girl |
| Feminine plural | le ragazze felici - the happy girls |
Other common ones are grande (big), importante (important), verde (green), veloce (fast) and inglese (English).
Spelling Changes: -co and -go
Like nouns, adjectives sometimes add an h in the plural to keep a hard sound.
- Feminine -ca and -ga always become -che and -ghe: bianca, bianche - white; lunga, lunghe - long.
- Masculine -go becomes -ghi: lungo, lunghi - long; largo, larghi - wide.
- Masculine -co usually becomes -chi when the stress is on the second-to-last syllable: bianco, bianchi - white; stanco, stanchi - tired; poco, pochi - few. Common exceptions: amico, amici - friendly; greco, greci - Greek.
- When the stress falls earlier, it usually becomes -ci: fantastico, fantastici - fantastic; simpatico, simpatici - nice.
Spelling Changes: -io, -cia and -gia
-io
Adjectives ending in an unstressed -io have a single -i in the masculine plural: vecchio, vecchi - old; grigio, grigi - gray.
-cia and -gia
In the feminine plural, keep the i after a vowel: grigia, grigie - gray. Drop it after a consonant: liscia, lisce - smooth.
When in doubt, say the word out loud. The plural should keep the sound of the singular.
Before or After the Noun
Most adjectives go after the noun:
- una macchina rossa - a red car
- un ragazzo inglese - an English boy
- un problema importante - an important problem
Colors, nationalities and shapes normally go after it. A few short, common adjectives usually go before the noun: bello, buono, brutto, grande, piccolo, nuovo, vecchio, giovane, bravo.
- una bella giornata - a beautiful day
- un piccolo problema - a small problem
Position Can Change the Meaning
With some adjectives, the position changes what they mean. Before the noun the meaning is usually more figurative; after it, more literal.
| Before the noun | After the noun |
|---|---|
| un grande uomo - a great man | un uomo grande - a big man |
| un vecchio amico - an old (long-time) friend | un amico vecchio - an elderly friend |
| un caro amico - a dear friend | un ristorante caro - an expensive restaurant |
| un povero uomo - a poor (unlucky) man | un uomo povero - a poor (not rich) man |
If you’re unsure, put the adjective after the noun. That is the safer choice.
Buono Before a Noun
Before a singular noun, buono (good) changes like the indefinite article un, uno, una, un'.
| Article | Buono | Example |
|---|---|---|
| un | buon | un buon libro - a good book; un buon amico - a good friend |
| uno | buono | un buono studente - a good student |
| una | buona | una buona idea - a good idea |
| un' | buon' | una buon’amica - a good friend |
The article goes with buono, the word right after it, so it’s un buono studente even though we’d say uno studente.
In the plural, use the regular forms: buoni amici - good friends, buone notizie - good news. After the noun, buono is a regular adjective: un libro buono.
Bello Before a Noun
Before a noun, bello (beautiful, nice) changes like the definite article il, lo, l', i, gli.
| Article | Bello | Example |
|---|---|---|
| il | bel | un bel giardino - a beautiful garden |
| lo | bello | un bello spazio - a beautiful space |
| l' | bell' | un bell’uomo - a handsome man |
| i | bei | i bei libri - the beautiful books |
| gli | begli | i begli occhi - the beautiful eyes |
| la | bella | la bella ragazza - the beautiful girl |
| l' (feminine) | bell' | una bell’idea - a nice idea |
| le | belle | le belle case - the beautiful houses |
After the noun or after a verb, bello is regular: Il giardino è bello. - The garden is beautiful.
Very: The -issimo Ending
To say "very" with an adjective, use molto or add -issimo. Drop the final vowel, then add -issimo, which changes for gender and number like any -o adjective.
- alto - tall, altissimo - very tall
- bello - beautiful, bellissima - very beautiful (feminine)
- grande - big, grandissimi - very big (masculine plural)
- facile - easy, facilissimo - very easy
Adjectives ending in -co and -go add an h: stanco - tired, stanchissimo - very tired; lungo - long, lunghissimo - very long.
Molto alto and altissimo mean nearly the same thing, but -issimo sounds stronger.
More and the Most
Comparing
Use più (more) or meno (less), and di for "than": Marco è più alto di Luca. - Marco is taller than Luca.
The Most
Put the article before più: il ragazzo più alto - the tallest boy; la città più bella - the most beautiful city.
Better and Worse
Buono and cattivo usually use their own forms: migliore (better) and peggiore (worse). Il migliore amico is "the best friend", and la peggiore idea is "the worst idea".
Making Adverbs With -mente
The ending -mente works like English "-ly". Add it to the feminine singular form of the adjective.
- lento → lenta → lentamente - slowly
- vero → vera → veramente - really
- veloce → velocemente - quickly
- semplice → semplicemente - simply
If the adjective ends in -le or -re, drop the final e first: facile → facilmente - easily; normale → normalmente - normally.
Two common adverbs are irregular: buono → bene - well, and cattivo → male - badly.