Italian Grammar

Free Internet Italian Grammar

Tiber Island -- site of first known habitation in Rome (click image for larger view)
By TKWukitsch, Rome, 1999 (Revised, Washington, DC, 2008)
Optimized for horizontal resolution of 1024 or higher.
Alphabet and Pronunciation
    Consonant Pairs

Sentences
    Conjunctions
        Coordinate Conjunctions (e, ma, and o)
        Intensified Coordination (both...and, etc.)
        Subordinate Conjunctions
    Subordinate Clauses
        Noun clauses
            Sequence of Tenses in Noun Clauses
            Direct and Indirect Address
        Adverbial Clauses
            Adverb Clauses of Time
            Cause and Effect
            Conditional Clauses
            Possibility
            Supposition
            Comparative Clauses
        Hypothetical Clauses: Subjunctive After Se and Impersonal Expressions
        Other Clauses

Articles
    Definite Article
         Preposition-definite Article Contractions
    Indefinite Article
    Omission of the Article                                    Top of Page
    Partitive Construction (Plural Article - "some")

Interjections

Prepositions
    Simple Prepositions
    Combined Forms/Contractions
    "Prepositioni Improprie"

Nouns
    Gender and Number
    Agreement
    Quantity in Nouns
    Non Count Nouns
    Noun/Adjective Suffixes
        Making Diminutives
        Making Augmentatives
        Making Pejoratives
        Other Noun/Adjective Suffixes

Adjectives and Adverbs
    Forming Adjectives
    Adjective Agreement
    Forming Adverbs
    Comparison of Adverbs and Adjectives
    Cardinal Adjectives: One, Every, Both, Many, Some, A Pair Or, A Few, Etc.
    Ordinal Numbers as Adjectives
    Indefinite Adjectives
    Negative Adjectives
    Possessives
    Demonstratives                                                  Top of Page

Pronouns
    Subject Pronouns
    Object Pronouns
    Disjunctive Pronouns
    Relative Pronouns
    Indefinite Pronouns
    Doubled Pronouns
    Imperative with Pronoun
    Pronominal and Adverbial Particles: "Ne", "ci", and "vi"

Negation

Verbs
    Conjugation: Tense, Person, and Number
    First Conjugation (-are)
    Third Conjugation (-ire)
    Second Conjugation (-ere)
    Avere and Essere
        Avere
        Essere
    Indicative Mood
        Present Tense
        Future Tense
            Other Ways of Expressing the Future
        Imperfect Tense
        Simple Past Tense
        Compound or Perfect Tenses
            Compound Indicative                                 Top of Page
            Compound Subjunctive
        Present Perfect Tense
        Future Perfect Tense
        Pluperfect Tense
        Past Anterior or Preterite Perfect Tense
    Conditional Mood
        Present Conditional
        Past Conditional
    Subjunctive Mood
        Present Subjunctive
        Imperfect Subjunctive
        Perfect or Past Subjunctive
        Pluperfect Subjunctive
        Subjunctive Required in Dependent Clauses by Certain Verbs and Expressions
        Subjunctive after Se and Impersonal Expressions
    Imperatives
        Familiar Imperative (tu and voi)
        Polite form Imperative
    Reflexive Verbs
    Passive Voice
        Passive Conjugation
    Participles
    Infinitive
    Auxiliary Verbs
    Verbs Conjugated with Essere
    Irregular Verb List
    Polite vs. familiar forms
    Verb-Preposition Idioms                                  Top of Page

Questions
    Interrogative Pronouns
    Interrogative Adverbs

Punctuation Differences
    Periods in Abbreviations
    Comma in Expressions of Time
    Quotation Marks (le virgolette)

Prefixes and Suffixes
    Common Prefixes
    Common Suffixes

Numbers
    Cardinal Numbers
        Formation
        Ambiguity: Billions, Trillions, etc.
        Collective Numbers (about ten, about twenty, etc., dozen)
            Forming Collective Numerals
        Mathematics
    Fractions
    Decimals (Frazione decimale)
    Multiplicative numbers (double, triple, etc.)
    Telephone numbers
    Ordinal Numbers
        Degree, Quality, or Position
        "To the Nth Power"                                       Top of Page

Time
    "What time is it? "
    Minutes
    Quarter Hours (and Thirds)
    "At what time?","When?"
    Time Expressions
    One Time, Two Times, many times, at times, sometimes, etc
    Days, months, seasons, years, dates
        Days of the Week
        Months
        SEASONS
        DATES
        Centuries

Idiomatic Verb Constructions
    Piacere <to be pleasing to/to like>
    Fare
        Weather
        Professions
        to "Have something done"
        Other Idiomatic Fare Expressions
    Avere in "To be hungry, thirsty, etc."
    Essere vs. Stare
        C'e and Ci sono
    Aver bisogno di and Bisognare
    Volere
    Dare
    Andare
    Sapere and Conoscere

The Italian Alphabet and pronunciation:

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a	as in mama
b	as in boy
c	as in cat, before a consonant or the vowels A, O, U
c	like CH in chip, before the vowels I or E
d	as in dollar
e	(open) as in elbow
e	(closed) as in egg
f	as in forest
g	as in girl, before consonants and the vowels A, O, U
g	like J in jump, before the vowels I or E
h	is silent
i	like the e in the English word ego
j	is only used in foreign words
k	is only used in foreign words
l	as in like
m	as in motor
n	as in nickel
o	(open) as in over
o	(closed) as in olive
p	as in picture
q	as in queen (as in English, followed by u)
r	with a slight trill
s	as the z in zebra
t	as in table
u	as in fruit
v	as in vine (but sometimes like a w in older words)
w	is only used in foreign words (the w sound can also be made, as in Latin, by using an oe combination)
x	as in box
y	is only used in foreign words
z	as in TS combination in pits or the DS combination in pads

Consonant Pairs
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CH	before I or E is pronounced as a ck sound as in click
GH	before I or E is pronounced as a hard g sound as in gallop
RR	is "trilled" more than a single R
SS	is pronounced more like the S in English as in summer
ZZ	as in pizza
SCI or SCE	is pronounced as an SH sound as in sheet
SCA, SCU, SCHI or SCHE	is pronounced as SK in ski
GN	almost always has the pronunciation of the NY combination as in vineyard
GU	is pronounced like a GW sound as in language

Articles in Italian
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DEFINITE ARTICLE ("articolo determinativo"):
in italian has a number of different forms, depending on whether the noun it accompanies is masculine or feminine, singular or plural. It also changes its form according to the initial letters of the word that follows it.

MASCULINE SINGULAR, before:
single consonant:	il	*"il teatro"*	<the theater>
double consonants:	lo	*"lo specchio"*	<the mirror>
vowels:	l'	*"l'orso"*	<the bear>

MASCULINE PLURAL, before:
single consonants:	i	*"i denti"*	<the teeth>
double consonants:	*gli*	*"gli stivali"*	<the boots>
vowels:	*gli*	*"gli alberghi"*	<the hotels>

FEMININE SINGULAR, before:
consonants:	la	*"la casa"*	<the house>
vowels:	l'	*"l' anima"*	<the soul>

FEMININE PLURAL:
invariably:	le	*"le regole"*	<the rules>

"Z" and "X" count as double consonants ("DS" and "KS").
"Lo" and "la" elide (lose their vowels and take an apostrophe) before words beginning with a vowel.
Definite articles are used with nouns which are abstract, general or collective:
"la vita" <life>;
"l'oro" <gold>;
"la gente" <people>.

They are used with parts of the body and articles of clothing, where English would use a possessive adjective:
"le mani" <her hands>;
"le scarpe" <his shoes>.

Definite articles are also used with titles preceding a last name, except in direct address:
"Il signor Bianchi è di Firenze." <Mr. Bianchi is from Florence.>

BUT;
"Buon giorno, signor Bianchi" <Hello, Mr. Bianchi>.

Another important use of the definite article is with possessive adjectives:
"Ho perso il mio libro" <I lost my book>.

The INDEFINITE ARTICLES ("articoli indeterminativi")are:
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MASCULINE, before:
single consonants:	un	*"un teatro"*	<a theater>
double consonants:	*uno*	*"uno specchio"*	<a mirror>
vowels:	un	*"un orso"*	<a bear>

FEMININE, before:
consonants:	*una*	*"una casa"*	<a house>
vowels:	*un'*	*"un' anima"*	<a soul>

Omission of the Article:

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The indefinite article is omitted after the verbs essere and diventare before nouns that indicate religion, profession, marital status, or titles:
Mario è dottore e Alfredo è avvocato.   (Mario is a doctor and Alfredo is a lawyer.)
Io sono cattolica e lui è protestante.   (I am Catholic and he is a Protestant.)
It is also omitted after che in exclamations:
Che bel uomo!   (What a handsome man!)
Che peccato! (What a shame!)

The definite article is omitted after in with geographical terms if the terms are feminine and singular and not modified.
L'Emilia-Romagna è in Italia.   (Emilia-Romagna is in Italy.)

It is omitted with names of cities.
Conosci Milano?   (Do you know Milan?)
Avete mai visto Sorrento? (Have you ever seen Sorrento?)

In some common expressions.
a sinistra (to the left)
a destra (to the right)
in cima (on top)

"Some" or "any" is expressed in Italian in affirmative sentences by the partitive construction of di + the definite article.
Compro del formaggio e del pane. (I buy some cheese and some bread.)
Abbiamo dei parenti in Italia. (We have some relatives in Italy.)
Abbiamo comprato della carne. (We bought some meat.)

Plural Indefinite Articles: The partitive construction:

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can be considered as the plural form of the indefinite article. It is never used in negative sentences and is often omitted in questions.
Non vendono pane qui. (They don't sell bread here.)
Vuole carne o pesce? (Does he want meat or fish?)
The partitive is also expressed with un po' di with singular nouns and alcuni,-ewith plural nouns:
Devo comprare un po'di verdura. (I need to buy some vegetables.)
(I want to buy some apples.)

Interjections:
An interjection is a word or expression often given increased emotive value in the stream of speech. Interjections are rarely used in formal or business writing. In print interjection is usually followed by an exclamation mark or a comma:
suvvia! = alas!
aiuto! = help!
hey! = hey!
oh! = wow!
ahi! = ouch!
bontà mia! = My goodness!

Ahi! Mi sono rotto una gamba! <Ouch! I broke my leg!>

Prepositions:

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Prepositions are invariable connecting words preceding elements in a sentence (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs) that show the relationship between other elements or other sentences:
La bicicletta di Paolo è rotta. <Paolo's bicycle is broken.>
Mettilo sul tavolo. <Put it on the table.>
Dopo averci detto tutto ciò, lui sparì. <After telling us all that, he disappeared.>
Per quello che lei ci disse, cambiammo idea. <Because of what she told us, we changed our mind.>
Simple Prepositions
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In Italian the basic or simple prepositions, are:

di         (of)
a          (at, to)
da        (from)
in         (in)
con      (with)
su        (on)
per      (for)
tra       (among, between)
fra       (among, between)
sotto   (under)
sopra   (over)

Scrivo a Piero. <I'm writing to Piero.>

Poco lontano da qui, câè un ristorante. <Not too far from here, there is a restaurant.>

Carlo è tra quella folla. <Carlo is among that crowd.>

Some prepositions (a, da, di, in, su) contract and combine with the definite article to form a single word as shown in the chart below. (These are called preposizioni articolate.)

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al ristorante (to the restaurant)
Metti il libro sul tavolo. (Put the book on the table.)
Metti il libro nellâarmadio. (Put the book in the closet.)
Potrò vederti domani dalle 5 alle 7. (I can see you tomorrow, from 5 to 7.)
Saltò giú dal secondo piano. (He jumped from the second floor.)

ARTICLE PREPOSITION	IL	LO	L'	LA	I	*GLI*	LE
A	AL	*ALLO*	*ALL'*	*ALLA*	AI	*AGLI*	*ALLE*
DI	*DEL*	*DELLO*	*DELL'*	*DELLA*	*DEI*	*DEGLI*	*DELLE*
DA	*DAL*	*DALLO*	*DALL'*	*DALLA*	*DAI*	*DAGLI*	*DALLE*
IN	*NEL*	*NELLO*	*NELL'*	*NELLA*	*NEI*	*NEGLI*	*NELLE*
SU	*SUL*	*SULLO*	*SULL'*	*SULLA*	*SUI*	*SUGLI*	*SULLE*
*CON*	*COL*	*COLLO* *(ARCHAIC)*	*COLL'* *(ARCHAIC)*	*COLLA* *(ARCHAIC)*	*COI*	*COGLI* *(ARCHAIC)*	*COLLE* *(ARCHAIC)*

Along with the simple prepositions there is a group words, called preposizioni improprie which are actually adverbs, adjectives or rarely verbs, but often they function as prepositions:

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davanti        (in front of)
avanti          (in front of)
innanzi        (in front of)
dietro           (behind)
dentro         (inside)
oltre             (further)
presso         (by)
fuori             (outside)
sopra           (over)
sotto            (under)
su                 (on)
accanto       (near by)
attorno        (around)
intorno        (around)
prima            (before)
dopo             (after)
lungo           (along)
secondo      (in accordance with)
vicino           (near, close by)
Examples:
Vai fuori! (Go out!) (adverb)
Starò fuori città per qualche giorno. (I will be out of town for a few days.) (preposition)

Tu stai dietro. (You stay behind.) (adverb)
Lâaltro è dietro la casa. (The other is behind the house.) (preposition)

Mia nonna abita vicino. (My grandmother lives near by.) (adverb)
La casa di mia nonna è vicina. (My grandmother's house is close.) (adjective)
Mia nonna abita vicino a noi. (My grandmother lives near us.) (preposition)

Nouns: Gender and agreement

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Gender and number

NOUNS ("sostantivi") can have two GENDERS ("generi"), masculine and feminine, and two NUMBERS, singular and plural.

Generally speaking, masculine nouns end in "-o" (plural "-i") and feminine nouns end in "-a" (plural "-e"):
"il libro" <the book>, "i libri" <the books>;
"la casa" <the house>, "le case" <the houses>.

There are exceptions:
Some feminine nouns end in "-o". they either form the plural in "-i":
"la mano" <the hand>, "le mani" <the hands>;
or (if foreign loanwords ) remain unchanged,
"la foto" <the photograph>, "le foto" <the photographs>.

Some masculine nouns end in "-a"; they form their plural in "-i":
"il problema" <the problem>, "i problemi" <the problems>.

Some masculine nouns change their gender to feminine in the plural, with a singular-type "-a" ending rather than the usual plural form "-e":
"l'uovo" <the egg> BUT "le uova" <the eggs>;
"il dito" <the finger> BUT "le dita" <the fingers>.

There are also a number of nouns which do not end in "-o" or "-a."
Nouns ending in "-e," whether masculine or feminine, invariably form the plural in "-i":
"il fiore" <the flower>, "I fiori" <the flowers>;
"la lezione" <the lesson>; "le lezioni"<the lessons>.

Nouns ending in "-i" or an accented vowel do not change in the plural:
"la crisi" <the crisis>, "le crisi" <the crises>;
"la virtù" <the virtue>, "le virtù" <the virtues>;
"la città" <the city>, "le città" <the cities>.

The same is true of one-syllable nouns, and of foreign loanwords ending in a consonant:
"il re" <the king>, "i re" <the kings>;
"il film" <the movie>, "i film" <the movies>.

Some nouns ending in "-a" or "-e" can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the gender of the person being named by the noun:
"il pianista" <the male pianist>; "la pianista" <the female pianist>;
"il cantante" <the male singer>, "la cantante" <the female singer>.

Other nouns change their ending according to gender:
"l'attore" <the actor>, "l'attrice" <the actress>;
"il gallo" <the rooster>, "la gallina" <the hen>;
"il cameriere" <the waiter>, "la cameriera" <the waitress>.

There are also nouns that have both genders, but with a different meaning for each:
"il fine" <the purpose>, "la fine" <the conclusion>;
"il tema" <the topic>, "la tema" <fear>.

Agreement:

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A noun and its modifiers have the same gender and have number AGREEMENT. If a noun is feminine, its modifiers will be feminine:
"una antica chiesa" <an old church>.
If a noun is plural, its modifiers will be plural:
"i capelli grigi" <gray hairs>.

Quantity in nouns:

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Below are examples of countable nouns. Pay special attention to the expressions of quantity in parentheses. Those listed below are used only with countable nouns.
Expressions of Quantity            Countable Nouns
uno (one)                         studente (student)
ogni (every)                     libro (book)
ogni (every)                     stanza (room)
due (two)                         piante (plants)
entrambi (both)              ragazzi (boys)
un paio di (a pair of)           scarpe (shoes)
alcuni (some/few)           amici (friends)
molti (many)                   cani (dogs)
pochi (few)                      pesci (fish)
parecchi (quite a few/a lot)     amici (friends)
meno (fewer)                   vantagi (advantages)

Below are examples of noncountable nouns. The expressions of quantity preceding parentheses are used only with noncountable nouns.

Expressions of Quantity                   Noncountable Nouns
un po' di (some/a little bit of)         caffè (coffee)
molto (a lot of)                      ghiaccio (ice)
molta (many)                           gente (people)

Cardinal adjectives -- one, two, several etc. -- are used with noncountable mass nouns (nouns of substance) only in a very restricted context and mean portion:
Vogliamo due caffè per favore. (We want two coffees, please.)
Il cameriere ci ha portato un tè e un caffè. (The waiter brought us one tea and one coffee.)

Noncount nouns:

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refer to things that cannot be counted. In English they do not usually take a definite aritcle, but in Italian they often do.
Whole groups of similar items :

il cibo (food)
la posta (mail)
la roba (stuff)
la spazzatura (garbage)

Fluids:

il caffè (coffee)
il tè (tea)
il latte (milk)
l'olio (oil)
la benzina (gas)
l'aceto (vinegar)

Solids:

il ghiaccio (ice)
il burro (butter)
il formaggio (cheese)
la carne (meat)
il legno (wood)
il sale (salt)
il pane (bread)

Gases:

l'aria (air)
lo smog (smog)
l'ossigeno (oxygen)

Particles:

il riso (rice)
il grano (grain)
la farina (flour)
lo zucchero (sugar)
la sabbia (sand)

Abstract nouns:

la bellezza (beauty)
l'educazione (education)
la salute (health)
l'aiuto (help)
la violenza (violence)

Sports, games, and activities:

il calcio (soccer)
il baseball (baseball)
il football (football)
il poker (poker)

Nature:

il tempo (weather)
la nebbia (fog)
la pioggia (rain)
la neve (snow)
il fuoco (fire)
la luce (light)
il vento (wind) -- but, figuratively, "i quatri venti" = "the Four Winds"

Noun/Adjective Suffixes:
Suffixes modify the meaning of the base word and can be used to form adjectives from nouns and vice versa.
Suffixes can be used to form diminutives, augmentatives, and pejoratives (depreciatives), but they should be coined cautiously: many have preexisting figurative, slang, or sexual meanings.

Many other suffixes form adjectives from nouns and verbs, but most of these adjectives can stand alone as nouns -- the noun they modify can be an unspoken indefinite pronoun: one or some.

Diminutives:

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In English, the diminutive endings -let and -ie (-y) are added to nouns to connote small size or endearment: pig, piglet, piggie. Italian uses the diminutive ending in the same way.
The final vowel of the noun is dropped before adding the diminutive suffix. In the feminine form the -o changes to -a.

*-ino*	uccello --> uccellino (little bird)
*-icino*	cuore --> cuoricino (little heart)
*-etto*	giovane --> giovanetto (little young man)
*-ello*	fontana --> fontanella (little fountain)
*-olo*	figlio --> figliolo (little son)
*-uccio*	bocca --> boccuccia (cute, little mouth)
*-olino*	radio --> radiolina (little radio)
*-uzza*	via --> viuzza (little street)

	Sometimes diminutives connote a bad quality or contempt.
*-uccio*	casa --> casuccia (small, ugly house)
*-etto*	podere --> poderetto (worthless, little farm)

	Some nouns change meaning and gender when a suffix is attached.
*-ino*	camera --> camerino (room --> changing room)
*-ino*	coda --> codino (tail--> pigtail)
	*Caution: codina* (feminine) in some dialects means prostitute and codino (masculine) can be male prostitute if applied to a person.**
	N.B.: coin diminutives cautiously -- many (including all of the above) have preexisting slang or figurative, including sexual, meanings.

Augmentatives
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Augnentative suffixes are added to a noun to indicate large size or exaggeration of a quality. A common one is -one.

*-one*	naso --> nasone (big nose -- or a person who has one)
*-one*	libro --> librone (big book)
	Some feminine nouns when the -one suffix is attached change gender.
*-one*	la donna --> la donnone (big woman -- or too masculine or dominating, or a male transvestite)
*-one*	la febbre --> la febbrone (high fever -- or excitement, including sexual)
*-one*	la palla --> la pallone (soccer ball, or possibly male sexual arrousal without release)
*-one*	la stanza --> la stanzone (room large room)
	N.B.: coin augmentatives cautiously -- many have preexisting slang or figurative, including sexual, meanings.

Pejorative:
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The following suffixes convey the idea of ugliness or a bad quality:

*-accio*	ragazzo --> ragazzaccio (bad boy)
*-astro*	poeta --> poetastro (a terrible poet)
*-ucolo*	maestro --> maestrucolo (bad teacher)
*-accione*	uomo --> omaccione (ugly man)

Other Noun/Adjective Suffixes:

-aggine (-ness)	stupido --> stupidaggine (foolishness or a foolish act)
-aio (one who uses/makes/ sells/is in charge of)	forno --> fornaio (baker)
-anza/enza (makes abstract)	**vedova --> vedovanza (widowhood), magnifico --> magnificenza (magnificence)**
-ata (-ful) (a blow by means of) (an action)	cucchiai --> cucchiaiata (spoonful) pugnale --> pugnalata (dagger stab) cabrare (to zoom): cabrata (zooming or aerobatics)
-ere/ore (one who does)	**banco --> banchiere (banker), conquista --> conquistatore**
-eria (place where)	libro --> libreria (bookstore)
-ero (changes noun to adjective)	guerra -->guerriero (warlike)
-eto/-eta (grove/orchard)	pina --> pineta (pine grove/forest)
-ia (arts or sciences) (marks abstactions)	geologia (geology) maestro --> maestria (masterliness/mastery)
-iccio (-ish)	rosso --> rossicio (reddish one or reddish as an adjective)
-oso (characterized by)	rocco --> roccoso (rocky)
-ta' (-ty)	fraternita' (fraternity)
*-ura*	bravo --> bravura (something worth of a"bravo") alto --> altura (heights/highlands)
-uta (adjective-forming)	*barba --> barbuta (bearded)*

CONTRACTIONS:

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The definite articles form CONTRACTIONS ("contrazioni") with the prepositions
"a" <to, at, in>,
"di" <of, from, by, about>,
"da" <of, by, from, with>,
"in" <in, to>,
"su" <on>, and
"con" <with>:

ARTICLE PREPOSITION	IL	LO	L'	LA	I	*GLI*	LE
A	AL	*ALLO*	*ALL'*	*ALLA*	AI	*AGLI*	*ALLE*
DI	*DEL*	*DELLO*	*DELL'*	*DELLA*	*DEI*	*DEGLI*	*DELLE*
DA	*DAL*	*DALLO*	*DALL'*	*DALLA*	*DAI*	*DAGLI*	*DALLE*
IN	*NEL*	*NELLO*	*NELL'*	*NELLA*	*NEI*	*NEGLI*	*NELLE*
SU	*SUL*	*SULLO*	*SULL'*	*SULLA*	*SUI*	*SUGLI*	*SULLE*
*CON*	*COL*	*COLLO* (ARCHAIC)*	*COLL'* *(ARCHAIC)*	*COLLA* *(ARCHAIC)*	*COI*	*COGLI* *(ARCHAIC)*	*COLLE* *(ARCHAIC)*

*Modern Italian uses separate words in place of archaic forms: e.g., "con lo" vice "collo."
ADJECTIVES

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Forming Adjectives:
Some adjectives are formed from verbs by adding the suffix -nte.
Such adjectives are actually archaic forms of the present participle.
ardere (to burn) ---> ardente (hot)
fortificare (to fortify) ---> fortificante (fortifying)
Other adjectives are derived from the past participles of verbs.
scrivere (to write) --> scritto (written)
contorcere (to twist) --> contorto (twisted)

Adjectives are sometimes formed from nouns by adding the suffixes -so (English -ous) and -ico (English -ic).
miracolo(miracle) --> miracoloso (miraculous)
letargo (lethargy) --> letargico (lethargic)

ADJECTIVES agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.

Regular adjectives with separate masculine and feminine forms end in -o (m.) and -a (f.) in the singular, -i (m.) and -e (f.) in the plural:
"Il battello è bianco" <The boat is white>;
"La colomba ha un'ala bianca" <The dove has a white wing>;
"I miei denti sono bianchi" <My teeth are white>;
"Le mie scarpe sono bianche" <My shoes are white>.
(Note that the letter "h" inserted in bianchi and bianche is there to keep the "hard" sound of the "c".)

Regular adjectives with identical masculine and feminine forms have a singular ending "-e" and a plural ending "-i":
"un vestito verde" <a green dress>;
"una mela verde" <a green apple>;
"dei alberi verdi" <some green trees>;
"delle tartaruge verdi" <some green turtles>.

N.B. Adjectives describing colors by means of nouns do not change form to show gender or number:
"la rosa" <the rose>, "rosa" <pink>, "dei fiori rosa" <some pink flowers>;
"la viola" <the violet>, "viola" <purple>, "un vestito viola" <a purple dress>.

Other adjectives describing colors that are invariable are:
"arancione" <orange>, "marrone" <brown>, "blu" <blue>,

If an adjective follows two nouns, it takes a plural form;
if one of the nouns is masculine, the adjective must be masculine plural:
"un vestito e una camicia rossi" <a red dress and a red shirt>.
(also note the difference between rossa = red and rosa = pink.)

If the adjective precedes two nouns, however, it agrees with the closest one:

The Italian Alphabet and pronunciation:

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Consonant Pairs

Articles in Italian

Omission of the Article:

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Plural Indefinite Articles: The partitive construction:

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Interjections:

Prepositions:

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Prepositions are invariable connecting words preceding elements in a sentence (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs) that show the relationship between other elements or other sentences:

Some prepositions (a, da, di, in, su) contract and combine with the definite article to form a single word as shown in the chart below. (These are called preposizioni articolate.)

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**Along with the simple prepositions there is a group words, called preposizioni improprie which are actually adverbs, adjectives or rarely verbs, but often they function as prepositions:**

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Nouns: Gender and agreement

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Gender and number

**NOUNS ("sostantivi") can have two GENDERS ("generi"), masculine and feminine, and two NUMBERS, singular and plural.**

Agreement:

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Quantity in nouns:

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Noncount nouns:

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Noun/Adjective Suffixes:

Diminutives:

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Augmentatives

Pejorative:

Other Noun/Adjective Suffixes:

CONTRACTIONS:

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Modern Italian uses separate words in place of archaic forms: e.g., "con lo" vice "collo."*
ADJECTIVES

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The Italian Alphabet and pronunciation:

Consonant Pairs

Articles in Italian

Omission of the Article:

Plural Indefinite Articles: The partitive construction:

Interjections:

Prepositions:

Prepositions are invariable connecting words preceding elements in a sentence (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs) that show the relationship between other elements or other sentences:

Some prepositions (a, da, di, in, su) contract and combine with the definite article to form a single word as shown in the chart below. (These are called preposizioni articolate.)

Along with the simple prepositions there is a group words, called preposizioni improprie which are actually adverbs, adjectives or rarely verbs, but often they function as prepositions:

Nouns: Gender and agreement

Gender and number

NOUNS ("sostantivi") can have two GENDERS ("generi"), masculine and feminine, and two NUMBERS, singular and plural.

Agreement:

Quantity in nouns:

Noncount nouns:

Noun/Adjective Suffixes:

Diminutives:

Augmentatives

Pejorative:

Other Noun/Adjective Suffixes:

CONTRACTIONS:

*Modern Italian uses separate words in place of archaic forms: e.g., "con lo" vice "collo." ADJECTIVES

**Along with the simple prepositions there is a group words, called preposizioni improprie which are actually adverbs, adjectives or rarely verbs, but often they function as prepositions:**

**NOUNS ("sostantivi") can have two GENDERS ("generi"), masculine and feminine, and two NUMBERS, singular and plural.**

Modern Italian uses separate words in place of archaic forms: e.g., "con lo" vice "collo."*
ADJECTIVES