Easy Learning Italian Grammar (2011)
ADJECTIVES
What is an adjective?
An adjective is a ‘describing’ word that tells you more about a person or thing, for example, blue, big, good.
Using adjectives
You use adjectives like nice, expensive and good to say something about nouns (living beings, things or ideas). You can also use them with words such as you, he and they. You can use them immediately in front of a noun, or after verbs like be, look and feel.
a nice girl
an expensive coat
a good idea
He’s nice.
They look expensive.
For more information on Nouns, see page 1.
In English, adjectives don’t change according to the noun they go with.
a nice boy
nice girls
In Italian you have to ask:
Is the noun masculine or feminine?
Is it singular or plural?
You then choose the adjective ending accordingly. This is called making the adjective agree.
|
un ragazzo alto |
a tall boy |
|
una ragazza alta |
a tall girl |
|
ragazzi alti |
tall boys |
|
ragazze alte |
tall girls |
In English, you put adjectives IN FRONT OF the noun you’re describing, but in Italian, you usually put them AFTER it.
|
una casa bianca |
a white house |
For more information on Word order with adjectives, see page 24.
How to make adjectives agree
1. The basics
When you look up an adjective in a dictionary you find the masculine singular form.
If you want to use an adjective to describe a feminine noun you often have to change the ending.
If you want to use an adjective to describe a plural noun you nearly always have to change the ending.