Plural forms (Part I)

Ciao

Today we are going to start learning some rules that will be very useful for you to learn the plural forms for both male and female nouns and adjectives in Italian

The plural for the male nouns and adjectives in Italian is made changing the last letter of the (o / e) into - i:

Singular		Plural
Italian	English	Italian	English
il cane	the dog	i cani	the dogs
il gatto	the cat	i gatti	the cats
il bambino	the boy	i bambini	the boys
alto	tall	alti	tall (plural)

For the plural form of the female nouns you have to change the final - a to an - e:

Singular		Plural
Italian	English	Italian	English
la gatta	the cat (f)	le gatte	the cats (f)
la bambina	the girl	le bambine	the girls (f)
la macchina	the car	le macchine	the cars
alta	tall (f)	alte	tall (f. plural)

There are however some exceptions.

In this lesson we are going to start learning some irregular plural forms:

Singular		Plural
Italian	English	Italian	English
l'uomo	the man	gli uomini	the men
la mano	the hand	le mani	the hands
il braccio	the arm	le braccia	the arms
il dito	the finger	le dita	the fingers
l'uovo	the egg	le uova	the eggs

All words that end with an - e has their plural form ending on - i, but they keep the right article:

Singular		Plural
Italian	English	Italian	English
il pescatore	the fisher	i pescatori	the fishers
la legiòn	the legion	le legioni	the legions

Words with acute accent don't change in their plural form:

Singular		Plural
Italian	English	Italian	English
la città	the city	le città	the cities

The only female noun that ends with an - o is:

Singular		Plural
Italian	English	Italian	English
la mano	the hand	le mani	the hands

Male words ending with an -a still have their plural form ending with an -i:

Singular		Plural
Italian	English	Italian	English
il turista	the tourist	i turisti	the tourists
l'autista	the driver	gli autisti	the drivers

Words that end with a consonant are kept the same in their plural form:

Singular		Plural
Italian	English	Italian	English
l'autobus	the bus	gli autobus	the buses
il film	the movie	i film	the movies