plural

Italian Nouns: Singular and Plural Formation

In Italian, nouns change their ending to show whether they are singular (one) or plural (more than one). This change is based on the gender of the noun (masculine or feminine) and its final vowel.

1. Regular Patterns

Most Italian nouns follow these three basic patterns:

• Masculine nouns ending in -o change to -i in the plural.
  Example: il treno (the train) → i treni (the trains)
• Feminine nouns ending in -a change to -e in the plural.
  Example: la sorella (the sister) → le sorelle (the sisters)
• Nouns ending in -e (can be masculine or feminine) change to -i in the plural.
  Example (F): la notte (the night) → le notti (the nights)
  Example (M): il nome (the name) → i nomi (the names)

2. Nouns ending in -io and -ia

• Masculine nouns ending in -io usually end in a single -i in the plural.
  Example: il bacio (the kiss) → i baci (the kisses)
• Feminine nouns ending in -ia typically change to -e.
  Example: la lettera (the letter) → le lettere (the letters)

3. Masculine Nouns ending in -a

Some masculine nouns (often of Greek origin) end in -a. These form the plural with -i.

• Example: il problema (the problem) → i problemi (the problems)

For nouns referring to people that end in -ista, the plural depends on the gender of the person:

• Masculine: il pianista → i pianisti (the male pianists)
• Feminine: la pianista → le pianiste (the female pianists)

4. Invariable Nouns

Some nouns do not change their form at all in the plural. You can tell they are plural only by the article (il/la vs i/le). These include:

• Nouns ending in -i: l'analisi → le analisi (the analyses)
• Foreign words: il bar → i bar (the bars)
• Nouns with an accented final vowel: la città → le città (the cities)
• Abbreviated words: l'auto → le auto (the cars); il cinema → i cinema (the movie theaters)

5. Mixed Groups

When referring to a group containing both males and females, Italian uses the masculine plural form as the default.

• Example: i colleghi (the colleagues - mixed group or all male)
• Example: gli amici (the friends - mixed group or all male)