Italian adjectives : agreement rules A2

Hello! Welcome to Italian learners! Let’s talk about adjectives. This is a vast topic, here is the explanation for A1\A2 level, other, more specific articles are coming soon!
In Italian, there are three main groups of adjectives: qualifying adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, and possessive adjectives. Today, we’re focusing on QUALIFYING ADJECTIVES, and these are the main points:

1. WHAT ARE ITALIAN ADJECTIVES?
2. ITALIAN ADJECTIVES: GENDER AND NUMBER AGREEMENT
3. FULL AGREEMENT TABLE, ITALIAN ADJECTIVE ENDINGS: -O vs -E
4. ITALIAN ADJECTIVE PLACEMENT: BEFORE OR AFTER THE NOUN?
5. BELLO & BUONO BEFORE THE NOUN (IRREGULAR ADJECTIVES)
6. ESSENTIAL A2 ADJECTIVE VOCABULARY

1 WHAT ARE ITALIAN ADJECTIVES?

Italian adjectives are words that stand near a noun; they specify something about the noun (location, quality, possession).

In Italian, almost all the adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they refer to. There is agreement between adjectives, nouns, and articles.

Un arrostO buonO → A good roast → masculine singular

UnA tortA buonA → A good cake→ feminine singular

Degli arrostI buonI → Some good roasts → masculine plural

Delle tortE buonE → Some good cakes → feminine plural

2 ITALIAN ADJECTIVES: GENDER AND NUMBER AGREEMENT

An Italian adjective always agrees in gender and number with the it modifies, if the noun changes, the adjective changes too.

There are two main groups of adjectives :

• Adjectives ending with -O ( four changes)
• Adjectives ending with -E (two changes)

Adjectives ending with -O (four changes):

Most Italian adjectives, in their dictionary form (masculine singular), end in -O. These adjectives have four distinct endings – one for each combination of gender and number.

GENDER & NUMBER	ADJECTIVE ENDING (four)	EXAMPLES
MASCULINE SINGULAR	altO	ragazzO altO
MASCULINE PLURAL	altI	ragazzI altI
FEMININE SINGULAR	altA	ragazzA altA
FEMININE PLURAL	altE	ragazE altE

Here are more adjectives ending with -O:

ADJECTIVE M. SING. M. PL. F. SING. F. PL. Beautifull bellO bellI bellA bellE Tired stancO stanchI stancA stanchE Red rossO rossI rossA rossE New nuovO nuovI nuovA nuovE Free liberO liberI liberA liberE Short bassO bassI bassA bassE

Adjectives ending with -E (two changes):

A group of Italian adjectives end with -E in their dictionary form. This means that they change only according to the number. You only need TWO forms.

GENDER AND NUMBER	FORM	EXAMPLE
MASCULINE SINGULAR	grandE	il ragazzo grandE
MASCULINE PLURAL	grandE	la ragazza grandE
FEMININE SINGULAR	grandI	i ragazzi grandI
FEMININE PLURAL	randI	le ragazze grandI

More adjectives ending with -E:

ADJECTIVE SINGULAR( Masc. & Fem.) PLURAL(Masc. & Fem.) Happy felicE felicI Sad tristE tristI Big grandE grandI Interesting interessantE interessantI Young giovanE giovanI Strong fortE fortI Difficult difficilE difficilI Easy facilE facilI

3 FULL AGREEMENT TABLE, ITALIAN ADJECTIVE ENDINGS: -O vs -E

Here is the agreement table for both groups side by side.

4 ITALIAN ADJECTIVE PLACEMENT: BEFORE OR AFTER THE NOUN?

Most Italian adjectives come after the noun, especially those regarding colours, nationalities, shapes, and technical or scientific descriptions.

Una macchina rossa → A red car Un uomo italiano → An Italian man Una borsa grande → A big bag I ragazzi simpatici → The friendly boys

5 BELLO & BUONO BEFORE THE NOUN (IRREGULAR ADJECTIVES)

Bello and Buono have special forms when they are placed before a noun. BUONO follows the rules of Italian indefinite articles. BELLO follows the rules of Italian definite articles.

BUONO

BUON before most of masculine singular nouns Un BUON uomo Un BUON ragazzo

BUONO before masculine singular nouns beginning with: -ps,-gn, -pn, -s+consonant, -x, -y, -z.

-PS Un buono psicologo -GN Un buono gnomo -PN Un buono pneumatico -S+consonant Un buono studente -X Un buono xilofono -Y Un buono yogurt -Z Un buono zio

BUON’ before feminine singular nouns beginning with a vowel Buon’amica Buon’arancia

BUONA before feminine singular nouns beginning with a consonant Buona scarpa Buona borsa

BUONE before feminine plural nouns Buone arancie Buone scarpe

BUONI before masculine plural nouns Buoni psicologi Buoni ragazzi

BELLO

BEL before most of masculine singular nouns Bel ragazzo Bel cane

BELLO before masculine singular nouns beginning with: -ps,-gn, -pn, -s+consonant, -x, -y, -z

-PS Bello psicologo -GN Bello gnomo -PN Bello pneumatico -S+consonant Bello studente -X Bello xilofono -Y Bello yogurt -Z Bello zio

BELLA before feminine singular nouns beginning with a consonant Bella scarpa Bella borsa

BELLE before feminine plural nouns Bellle arancie Belle scarpe

BEI before most of masculine plural nouns Bei ragazzi Bei cani

BEGLI before masculine plural nouns beginning with: -ps,-gn, -pn, -s+consonant, -x, -y, -z

-PS Begli psicologi -GN Begli gnomi -PN Begli pneumatici -S+consonant Begli studenti -X Begli xilofoni -Y Begli yogurt -Z Begli zii

BELL’ before masculine and feminine singular nouns beginning with a vowel Bell’amica Bell’amico

6 ESSENTIAL A2 ADJECTIVE VOCABULARY

Personality and character

Simpatico – friendly Antipatico – unfriendly Gentile – kind Timido – shy Coraggioso – brave Intelligente – intelligent Onesto – honest Pigro – lazy

Physical appearance

Alto – tall Basso – short Magro – thin Grasso – fat Giovane – young Vecchio – old Biondo – blonde Bruno – dark haired Forte – strong

Feelings and states

Felice – happy Triste – sad Arrabbiato – angry Stanco – tired Contento – pleased Preoccupato – worried Nervoso – nervous Annoiato – bored Sorpreso – surprised

Describing things and places

Bello – beautiful Brutto – ugly Buono – good Cattivo – bad Freddo – cold Facile – easy Difficile – difficult Interessante – interesting

EXERCISES Here are 10 sentences. Fill the gaps with the correct form of the adjectives given in brackets. Write the answers in the comment section.

1 Maria è molto ____(simpatico)

2 Ho due fratelli ____(alto)

3 È una storia ____(interessante)

4 I bambini sono ____(stanco)

5 Abitiamo in una casa ____(grande)

6 Ho mangiato una ____(buono) pizza

7 Sono ____(bello) notizie

8 Marco e Luca sembrano ____(felice)

9 È un ____(bello) libro

10 Le studentesse sono ____ e ____(intelligente\serio)