Unità 1

📖 G 1.6 – I sostantivi plurali – The plural nouns

As a general rule the plural forms of the masculine nouns ending ino and -e end in -i  

  • il gatto > i gatti
  • il cane> i cani

 As a general rule for the plural form of the feminine nouns ending in a ends in e and the ending vowel of feminine nouns ending in e  endsi:

  • la pizza > le pizze
  • la notte > le notti
Maschile singolare Maschile plurale
– o –> gatto – i –> gatti
– e –> studente – i –> studenti
Femminile singolare Femminile plurale
– a –> pizza e –> pizze
– e –> carne – i –> carni

Irregular plural forms 

Ending Example

Nouns ending in -co/-ca/-go/-ga add an “h”  after c/g

  • il parco -> i parchi
  • il lago -> i laghi
  • l’amica -> le amiche
  • la biologa -> le biologhe
Most nouns ending in -ico change to -ici
  • l’amico -> gli amici
  • il medico -> i medici
Nouns ending in –ista can be masculine or feminine. In the plural the masculine form ends in -isti and the feminine form ends in -iste.
  • il turista -> i turisti
  • la turista -> le turiste
Masculine nouns ending in -ma change their ending to mi.
  • il problema-> i problemi
Some nouns have an irregular plural form.
  • l’uomo -> gli uomini *
  • l’uovo -> le uova (f., plurale)
  • la mano -> le mani

*While the plural of uomo is irregular, the plural of donna is regular (donne)

Abbreviated nouns, accented nouns and foreign words do not change in the plural:  

  • la moto -> le moto *
  • la città -> le città
  • il bar -> i bar

*If the word is not abbreviated, the plural is regular: ex. la motocicletta-> le motociclette

Nouns ending in -io have only one -i. But if the -i is stressed (-io), the plural has two -ii

  • il bacio -> i baci
  • lo zio -> gli zii

Complete the following exercises to practice the new grammar structure.

‼️ Go to the online homework platform Blinklearning to complete graded activities

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Giornate italiane Copyright © 2023 by Amanda Bush & Silvia Luongo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book