Italian and English differ in their usage of adjectives. Italian descriptive
adjectives are usually placed after the noun they modify, and with which they
agree in gender and number. As a difference with English, adjectives may be
placed both before or after the noun.
- La grande città » the large town.
- La città grande » the large town.
are both correct, but in the second one the idea of large is slightly more.
More examples:
- La macchina rossa » the red car
- Le macchine rosse » the red cars
- Il divano rosso » the red sofa
- I divani rossi » the red sofas
Endings for adjectives:
- Adjectives ending in -o have
four forms. They need to modify their
endings for gender and number.
| Gender & number |
Adjective ending |
|
| masculine singular |
-o |
| masculine plural |
-a |
| feminine singular |
-i |
| feminine plural |
-e |
There's a list of adjectives ending in -o:
| • allegro » cheerful, happy |
• grasso » fat |
| • buono » good, kind |
• leggero » light |
| • cattivo » bad, wicked |
• nuovo » new |
| • freddo » cold |
• pieno » full |
| • stretto » narrow |
• timido » timid,
shy |
Exampes:
• il gatto nero (the black
cat, m) » i gatti neri
(the black cats,
m)
• la gatta nera (the black cat, f) »
le gatte nere
(the black cats,
f)
• il
ragazzo cattivo (the bad boy) » i ragazzi cattivi (the bad
boys)
• la ragazza cattiva (the bad
girl) » le ragazze cattive (the bad girls)
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