Ready to test your knowledge about Italian Noun Number?
Understanding Noun Number in Italiano
In Italian, just like in English, nouns can be singular or plural. This means they can refer to one thing or more than one thing. We change the form of the noun to show if it's talking about one or many.
Basic Rules for Forming Plurals
Important Points
For most masculine nouns ending in -o, change the -o to -i to make it plural.
For most feminine nouns ending in -a, change the -a to -e to make it plural.
Nouns ending in -e, whether masculine or feminine, change the -e to -i to form the plural.
Some nouns are irregular and do not follow these rules. You have to learn these separately.
Examples
Libro (book) becomes Libri (books)
Casa (house) becomes Case (houses)
Studente (student) becomes Studenti (students)
Irregular Plurals
Some nouns in Italian don't follow the regular rules for making plurals. These are called irregular plurals. You need to memorize these special cases.
Examples
Uomo (man) becomes Uomini (men)
Uovo (egg) becomes Uova (eggs)
Città (city) stays Città (cities)
Special Cases and Exceptions
Important Points
Nouns that end in -ca and -ga add an -h before the plural ending to keep the hard sound, like 'amica' to 'amiche'.
Nouns that end in -co and -go sometimes add an -h, but not always. For example, 'fuoco' becomes 'fuochi', but 'amico' becomes 'amici'.
Nouns ending in an accented vowel or a consonant do not change in the plural form.
Examples
Amica (friend) becomes Amiche (friends)
Fuoco (fire) becomes Fuochi (fires)
Film (film) stays Film (films)
Ready to test your knowledge about Italian Noun Number?