Italian Adjectives: Gender, Number and Endings

🔍 In short. Italian adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun. Most end in -o and have four forms: rosso, rossa, rossi, rosse. Some end in -e and have only two: grande, grandi. A few never change: blu, rosa, viola. By default the adjective goes after the noun (una giacca rossa). This A1 guide covers the four forms, the -e group, invariable ones, colours and nationalities, and the most common beginner mistakes.

In English an adjective never changes: a red coat, red shoes, red ideas. In Italian the adjective copies the gender and number of the noun, so the same word has different endings. Once you see the pattern, it is very regular.

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What an Italian adjective does

Walk into a clothes shop in Modena and you describe everything: una giacca rossa, un cappotto nero, scarpe comode. Italian adjectives always agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun they describe. The ending changes; the meaning stays the same.

This is the one big idea behind Italian adjectives: the article, the noun and the adjective all match. Il cappotto nero, la giacca nera, i cappotti neri, le giacche nere. Same colour, four spellings. The good news for a beginner is that the system is regular: there are only three families to learn, and almost every word you meet falls into one of them.

The four forms: rosso, rossa, rossi, rosse

Most Italian adjectives end in -o in the masculine singular. These have four forms, exactly like the article pattern.

• il cappotto rosso
  the red coat (masculine singular)
• la giacca rossa
  the red jacket (feminine singular)
• i cappotti rossi
  the red coats (masculine plural)
• le giacche rosse
  the red jackets (feminine plural)

The pattern is fixed: -o masculine singular, -a feminine singular, -i masculine plural, -e feminine plural. The great majority of Italian adjectives (colours, sizes, qualities like alto, basso, simpatico, stanco) follow it.

Adjectives ending in -e: only two forms

A second, smaller group of Italian adjectives ends in -e. These do not show gender at all: one form for masculine and feminine singular, one form for the plural.

• un ragazzo intelligente / una ragazza intelligente
  a smart boy / a smart girl (same form)
• ragazzi intelligenti / ragazze intelligenti
  smart boys / smart girls (same plural)
• una casa grande, un problema grande, idee grandi
  a big house, a big problem, big ideas

So -e Italian adjectives (grande, gentile, felice, difficile, verde) have just two forms: -e in the singular, -i in the plural. You only choose for number, never for gender.

Invariable adjectives: blu, rosa, viola

A handful of Italian adjectives never change at all. The most common are colours that come from nouns or foreign words.

• una gonna blu, un vestito blu, scarpe blu
  a blue skirt, a blue dress, blue shoes
• una camicia rosa, fiori rosa
  a pink shirt, pink flowers
• una borsa viola, guanti viola, una sciarpa marrone
  a purple bag, purple gloves, a brown scarf

So blu, rosa, viola, beige (and often marrone) stay the same in every gender and number. There are also a few like pari and dispari (even/odd) that never change. These invariable Italian adjectives are rare, so just memorize the short list.

Plural spelling: bianco, bianchi

When the four-form Italian adjectives end in -co, -go, -ca or -ga, the plural keeps the hard sound with an h, just like nouns.

• un cappotto bianco / cappotti bianchi
  a white coat / white coats
• una strada lunga / strade lunghe
  a long street / long streets
• una giacca larga / giacche larghe
  a loose jacket / loose jackets

So bianco becomes bianchi, lungo becomes lunghi, stanco becomes stanchi. A small set keeps the soft sound instead (simpatico becomes simpatici, greco becomes greci), so listen for how the masculine plural sounds. The feminine plural of these Italian adjectives is regular: bianche, lunghe, simpatiche.

Bello and quello before the noun

Two very common Italian adjectives, bello (beautiful) and quello (that), behave like the definite article when they come before the noun. Their ending follows the same logic as il, lo, la, i, gli, le.

• un bel cappotto, dei bei cappotti
  a nice coat, nice coats
• un bell’albero, dei begli alberi, una bella casa
  a nice tree, nice trees, a nice house
• quel ragazzo, quello studente, quei libri, quegli amici
  that boy, that student, those books, those friends

So before the noun these Italian adjectives change like the article: bel / bello / bell’ / bei / begli / bella / belle and quel / quello / quei / quegli / quella / quelle. After the noun, bello is regular again: un tramonto bello, case belle.

Buon, gran, San: short forms

A few Italian adjectives drop a letter before the noun, the way uno shortens to un. The most common are buono, grande and Santo.

• un buon caffè, un buon amico (but un buono studente)
  a good coffee, a good friend
• un gran giorno, una gran festa
  a great day, a big party
• San Marco, Sant’Anna (but Santo Stefano)
  Saint Mark, Saint Anne

This shortening only happens before the noun and only with a few Italian adjectives. It is not an error you can make by leaving the full form (un buono caffè is just slightly heavier), so at A1 you only need to recognize it and copy the common pairs.

Where the adjective goes

For a beginner the safe rule is simple: most Italian adjectives go after the noun. Una macchina nuova, un libro interessante, una giacca rossa.

• una ragazza alta
  a tall girl
• un caffè caldo
  a hot coffee
• una città tranquilla
  a quiet city

A few short common Italian adjectives (bello, buono, grande, piccolo) often go before the noun, and the position can change the nuance. That is a separate topic with its own guide, linked at the end. At A1, “adjective after the noun” is the rule that will almost always be right.

Describing people: com’è?

The first real use of Italian adjectives at A1 is describing people: Com’è Caterina? The answer is a string of adjectives, each agreeing with the person.

• Caterina è alta, magra e simpatica.
  Caterina is tall, slim and nice.
• Lorenzo è basso, ha i capelli corti e gli occhi verdi.
  Lorenzo is short, has short hair and green eyes.
• Il mio professore è gentile; la mia professoressa è gentile.
  My (male) teacher is kind; my (female) teacher is kind.

Notice how the -o Italian adjectives change for a woman (alta, magra, simpatica) while the -e one does not (gentile for both). Body and personality words (alto, basso, magro, grasso, giovane, vecchio, simpatico, timido) are the vocabulary you will use first, so practising them as a description is the fastest way to fix the agreement.

Colours and nationalities

Two everyday families of Italian adjectives follow the same rules but are worth a close look: colours and nationalities.

• un gatto nero, una gatta nera, gatti neri, gatte nere
  a black cat… (four forms, like rosso)
• Marco è italiano, Elena è italiana, sono italiani
  Marco is Italian, Elena is Italian, they are Italian
• una ragazza francese, ragazzi francesi
  a French girl, French boys (an -e adjective: two forms)

Note two things about nationality Italian adjectives: they are written with a small letter (italiano, not Italiano), and some are -o type (italiano, americano, spagnolo) while others are -e type (francese, inglese, canadese). The agreement rule is the same; only the family differs.

In the predicate: la casa è grande

Italian adjectives agree with the noun even when they are not next to it, after verbs like essere, sembrare, diventare.

• La casa è grande.
  The house is big.
• I bambini sembrano stanchi.
  The children seem tired.
• Le strade diventano strette.
  The streets become narrow.

The adjective still copies the subject: il bambino è stanco but i bambini sono stanchi, la bambina è stanca, le bambine sono stanche. Predicate Italian adjectives obey exactly the same agreement.

Two nouns of different gender

When one of the Italian adjectives describes two nouns of different gender, the masculine plural form normally wins.

• Ho comprato penne e quaderni rossi.
  I bought red pens and notebooks.
• Marco e Elena sono italiani.
  Marco and Elena are Italian.
• Il cane e la gatta sono piccoli.
  The dog and the cat are small.

So a mixed group takes the masculine plural ending of the Italian adjectives (-i): penne e quaderni rossi, not rosse. This also covers a man and a woman together: Lorenzo e Caterina sono simpatici. The feminine plural is used only when every noun in the group is feminine: Caterina e sua sorella sono simpatiche, le giacche e le camicie sono nuove. As soon as one masculine noun joins the list, the ending goes back to -i, even if the masculine noun is last.

More examples to copy

The fastest way to internalize Italian adjectives is to read correct sentences aloud and copy the endings. Here is a small bank that mixes all the patterns from this guide.

• Roma è una bella città; Lucca è una città tranquilla.
  Rome is a beautiful city; Lucca is a quiet city.
• Le finestre sono aperte e le porte sono chiuse.
  The windows are open and the doors are closed.
• Questi pantaloni sono troppo stretti; quelli sono larghi.
  These trousers are too tight; those are loose.
• Una ragazza alta e un ragazzo basso entrano nel negozio.
  A tall girl and a short boy come into the shop.
• Gli studenti sono stanchi ma contenti.
  The students are tired but happy.
• Lorenzo porta una sciarpa viola e una borsa marrone.
  Lorenzo is wearing a purple scarf and a brown bag.

Read each line and ask why the ending is what it is: città tranquilla (feminine singular), finestre aperte (feminine plural), pantaloni stretti (masculine plural), sciarpa viola (invariable). Saying these Italian adjectives out loud, with the noun, is worth more than memorizing a table in the abstract.

Common mistakes English speakers make

Most beginner errors with Italian adjectives come from English, where the adjective never moves. These five are the usual ones.

• No agreement: not una giacca rosso but una giacca rossa.
• Adjective before the noun by default: not una rossa giacca but una giacca rossa.
• Changing an invariable one: not scarpe blue but scarpe blu.
• Giving -e adjectives a feminine -a: not una ragazza intelligenta but intelligente.
• Capital letter on nationalities: not Italiano but italiano.

Dialog: shopping for clothes in Modena

Caterina and Lorenzo are in a clothes shop in Modena. Listen for the Italian adjectives and how each ending matches its noun.

Notice the endings: giacca rossa (feminine singular), pantaloni neri (masculine plural), scarpe blu (invariable), commessa gentile (an -e adjective), vestiti italiani (masculine plural). Every choice of the Italian adjectives follows the noun.

Cheat sheet: every ending

One table for the whole logic of Italian adjectives. Keep it open while you do the quiz.

Mini-challenge

Test your understanding

The quiz below drills Italian adjectives: the four forms, the -e group, invariable ones, and agreement with the noun. Take it after the cheat sheet.

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Frequently asked questions

Seven questions about Italian adjectives come up in every A1 class. The answers below draw on classroom usage and on the Treccani entry genere e numero degli aggettivi.

Related guides

Three guides that sit next to Italian adjectives in the adjectives and nouns cluster, plus the institutional reference.

• Italian Adjective Position: buon amico or amico buono, when the adjective goes before the noun.
• Italian Possessive Adjectives: mio, tuo, suo and how they agree with the noun.
• Italian Neuter Plurals: uovo, uova, braccio, braccia and noun-adjective agreement.
• Treccani: genere e numero degli aggettivi: institutional reference.