ITALIAN GRAMMAR

For nouns, the number (whether the word is singular or plural) works exactly as in English: the singular form is used when referring to one subject and the plural form when referring to two or more. But in Italian also adjectives and articles are number-sensitive, whereas in English they are not: "the old house" in plural form becomes "the old houses", only the noun changes, while in Italian also the article and the adjective would be turned in plural form.

Number Inflections for Nouns: There are many rules to obtain the plural of italian nouns; but, generally, the plural is derived according to the following rules:

• For regular masculine nouns that end in -o, the ending changes to -i in the plural. In the same way regular feminine nouns that end in -a take on -e endings in the plural. Examples:

• The plural forms of some nouns end in -e will end in -i (regardless of whether these nouns are masculine or feminine).

• As a particular case, we have the words ending with co, ca, go, ga; these nouns and adjectives add an h to their plural form. Examples:

• However, when the vowel that comes before co or go is i (i.e. ...ico, ...igo), in most cases the masculin plural drops the h, thus becoming ...-ci or ...-gi (English sound ...chyh or ...jyh). Examples:

• Nouns ending with an accented vowel or a consonant (such as words of foreign origin) do not change in the plural, nor do the abbreviated words.

• In other cases the plural is a little difficult to recognize for a beginner; many times is recognized by external indicators, as articles, pronouns etc. Examples:

Note: Adjectives follow the same two patterns as nouns

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