Describe things: adjective endings

The noun is the boss

An adjective takes its gender and number from its noun. That works right next to the noun (una casa nuova) and after è or sono (la casa è nuova).

So before you choose an ending, ask two questions about the noun: is it masculine or feminine, and is there one or more? The article is often your quickest clue: il, la, i, le.

The -o family: four endings

Most adjectives end in -o in the dictionary. They have four forms, just like nouns in -o and -a: -o for masculine singular, -a for feminine singular, -i for masculine plural and -e for feminine plural.

Common ones: rosso, nuovo, piccolo, alto, comodo, buono, bello, caro.

-i is the masculine plural and -e the feminine plural. Le sedie nuovi mixes them up: it’s le sedie nuove.

The -e family: two endings

Adjectives that end in -e have only two forms: -e for one, -i for more than one. Masculine and feminine look exactly the same.

Common ones: grande, verde, felice, gentile, intelligente, giovane, dolce. There’s no granda or grando: grande stays grande for any single noun.

A few colours never change at all, such as blu, rosa and viola: una borsa blu, due borse blu.

Watch the noun, not its last letter

The adjective follows the noun’s gender, not its spelling. Nouns in -e can be either gender, so check the article: la chiave is feminine, so it’s la chiave nera; il pane is masculine, so it’s il pane buono.

This also means the endings don’t always rhyme. Una casa grande and le mele verdi are perfectly right: the noun comes from one family and the adjective from another.

Don’t try to make the endings rhyme. Find the gender and number, then use the adjective’s own family.

Where the adjective goes

Most adjectives come after the noun, the opposite of English: una macchina bianca (a white car), un museo moderno. Colours almost always go after.

A few very common ones often go before: bello, buono, grande and piccolo, as in una bella casa or una piccola cucina. Both orders are fine, and they still agree. Before a masculine noun, bello and buono change shape a little (un bel libro, un buon caffè). You’ll meet those forms later; until then, after è is always safe: Il caffè è buono.

Mixed groups take the masculine

When one adjective describes a man and a woman together, use the masculine plural: Marco e Anna sono alti. One masculine noun in the group is enough.

The same goes for things: la casa e il giardino together are piccoli. Only an all-feminine group takes -e: Anna e Giulia sono alte.

Spelling: -co, -ca and a few others

Some adjectives add an h in the plural to keep their hard k sound. Feminine -ca always becomes -che: bianca → bianche, simpatica → simpatiche.

Masculine -co often becomes -chi: bianchi, freschi, antichi. But some soften to -ci instead, like simpatico → simpatici, so learn the plural with the word. Two more small patterns: -go becomes -ghi (lungo → lunghi), and -io keeps just one i (vecchio → vecchi).

-ca → -che works every time. For -co, learn the plural with the word: bianchi, but simpatici.

Common mistakes

• una pizza buonouna pizza buonaPizza is feminine, so the adjective ends in -a.
• Le sedie sono nuovi.Le sedie sono nuove.-i is the masculine plural; the feminine plural ends in -e.
• le case grandele case grandi-e adjectives end in -i in the plural, for both genders.
• La chiave è nero.La chiave è nera.Chiave ends in -e but it’s feminine: check the article.
• una rossa macchinauna macchina rossaColours go after the noun.
• Marco e Anna sono alte.Marco e Anna sono alti.A mixed group takes the masculine plural.
• i piatti biancii piatti bianchiBianco keeps its hard sound in the plural with an h.

The full table

Find the noun’s gender and number, then pick the ending.

Colours and most adjectives go after the noun: una mela rossa.

For a mixed group, use the masculine plural: Marco e Anna sono alti.

Watch nouns in -e: la chiave nera, il pane buono.