Making adjectives agree
Most adjectives have to match (“agree with”) the gender and number of the nouns they describe:
| SINGOLARE | PLURALE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| ♀ | -a | -e | una bambina piccola– due bambine piccole |
| ♂ | -o | -i | un bambino piccolo – due bambini piccoli |
Una torta buona, delle torte buone, un quadro bello, dei quadri belli
a good cake, (some) good cakes, a beautiful picture, (some) beautiful pictures
Ciro è alto, Anna è alta, Ruggero sembra contento, Magda sembra contenta
Ciro is tall, Anna is tall, Ruggero seems happy, Magda seems happy
Notes:
- some adjectives stay the same in both genders, but do agree in number (singular or plural), like other adjectives:
Una donna gentile, un uomo gentile, un ragazzo egoista, una ragazza egoista
a nice woman, a nice man, a selfish boy, a selfish girl
- if the nouns are of different genders, any adjective describing them together agrees with the masculine plural:
La mamma e il papà di Giulia sono gentili.
Giulia’s mom and dad are nice.
- adjectives usually come after the noun:
Una giornata particolare, una discussione interessante
a special day, an interesting discussion
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