How to form the plural of adjectives in Italian

Understanding rules and mastering Italian grammar is an important part of the journey to achieve fluency in Italian. So, in this article, I’m going to explain the rules for forming the plural of adjectives in Italian, including some challenging exceptions that can trip up even experienced learners.

Rules for Forming Regular Plural Adjectives

Let’s start with the basic rules for forming the plural of adjectives in Italian:

Plural of Adjectives Ending in -o/a

Adjectives that end in -o in the masculine singular and in -a in the feminine singular, generally change to -i in the plural for the masculine and to -e for the feminine. For example:

• Masculine Singular: Buono (good)
• Masculine Plural: Buoni (good)
• Feminine Singular: Buona (good)
• Feminine Plural: Buone (good)

Plural of Adjectives Ending in -e

Adjectives that end in -e both in the masculine singular and in the feminine singular, generally change to -i in the plural both for the masculine and the feminine. For example:

• Masculine Singular: Grande (big)
• Masculine Plural: Grandi (big)
• Feminine Singular: Grande (big)
• Feminine Plural: Grandi (big)

Plural of Adjectives Ending in -a

Adjectives ending in -a both in the masculine singular and in the feminine singular, generally change to -i in the plural for the masculine and to -e for the feminine. For example:

• Masculine Singular: Egoista (selfish)
• Masculine Plural: Egoisti (selfish)
• Feminine Singular: Egoista (selfish)
• Feminine Plural: Egoiste (selfish)

And now, let’s move on to the challenging cases:

Plural of Adjectives Ending in -cio or -gio

Adjectives that end in -cio and -gio in the masculine singular generally form the masculine plural by deleting the final -o:

• Masculine Singular: Grigio (grey)
• Masculine Plural: Grigi (grey)
• Masculine Singular: Ligio (law-abiding)
• Masculine Plural: Ligi (law-abiding)

Plural of Adjectives Ending in -cia or -gia

Adjectives that end in -cia and -gia in the feminine singular generally form the feminine plural in -cie and -gie only when “c” and “g” are preceded by a vowel:

• Feminine Singular: Grigia (grey)
• Feminine Plural: Grigie (grey)
• Feminine Singular: Ligia (law-abiding)
• Feminine Plural: Ligie (law-abiding)

However, if “c” and “g” are preceded by a consonant, the plural will be in -ce, -ge.

• Feminine Singular: Riccia (curly)
• Feminine Plural: Ricce (curly)
• Feminine Singular: Saggia (wise)
• Feminine Plural: Sagge (wise)

Plural of Adjectives Ending in -co/ca or -go/ga

Adjectives that end in -co and -go in the masculine singular and in -ca and -ga in the feminine singular and that has a tonic accent on their second last syllable, generally change to -chi, -ghi in the plural for the masculine and to -che, -ghe for the feminine. For example:

• Masculine Singular: Bianco (white)
• Masculine Plural: Bianchi (white)
• Feminine Singular: Bianca (white)
• Feminine Plural: Bianche (white)
• Masculine Singular: Lungo (long)
• Masculine Plural: Lunghi (long)
• Feminine Singular: Lunga (long)
• Feminine Plural: Lunghe (long)

However, if the adjective ends in -co/ca and has a tonic accent on its third last syllable, it generally adds an h after “c” but only in the feminine plural.

• Masculine Singular: Simpatico (nice)
• Masculine Plural: Simpatici (nice)
• Feminine Singular: Simpatica (nice)
• Feminine Plural: Simpatiche (nice)

Exceptions.

Bring in mind, however, that there are always exceptions to these rules. Here are some examples:

• Masculine Singular: Greco (greek)
• Masculine Plural: Greci (greek)
• Feminine Singular: Greca (greek)
• Feminine Plural: Greche (greek)
• Masculine Singular: Caduco (caducous)
• Masculine Plural: Caduchi (caducous)
• Feminine Singular: Caduca (caducous)
• Feminine Plural: Caduche (caducous)

Plural of Adjectives Ending in -io

Adjectives that end in -io in the masculine singular form the plural with just one final -i if the tonic accent doesn’t fall on the “i” and with two -ii, if the tonic accent falls on the “i”.

• Masculine Singular: Gaio (cheerful)
• Masculine Plural: Gai (cheerful)
• Masculine Singular: Natio (native)
• Masculine Plural: Natii (native)

Final words:

Navigating the rules and exceptions for forming the plural of adjectives in Italian can be a linguistic adventure. However, mastering Italian adjectives and their plurals is a step toward fluency and a deeper appreciation of this beautiful language. Buon apprendimento! (Happy learning!)

If you found this article useful, don’t forget to share it with the world and to like our Facebook Page!

---

Credits

Original image by Tumisu, modified.