A quick guide to Italian adjectives

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What are adjectives in Italian and how do they work?

Let’s start with the basics. What are adjectives, and what’s their role in an Italian sentence?

Definition and role of adjectives in Italian

Adjectives are words used to describe or modify nouns. They’re used to provide additional information about the quality or quantity of a noun. For example, in Italian we might say:

• Un gatto nero dorme. (A black cat is sleeping.)

Here, nero (black) is an adjective modifying the noun gatto (cat).

Italian vs. English adjectives: Key differences

In Italian, adjectives generally come after the noun they describe. In this way, Italian adjectives differ from English adjectives, which typically precede the noun. 

As Italian is a Romance language, it should come as no surprise that gender plays a role in adjectival grammar. As a general rule, all adjectives in Italian must agree with the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun they modify.

Gender and number agreement for Italian adjectives

Gender agreement rules for Italian adjectives

Adjectives describing masculine nouns usually end in -o, whereas the -a ending is used for adjectives describing feminine nouns.

• un ragazzo alto (a tall boy)
• una ragazza alta (a tall girl)

But this isn’t always the case. Some adjectives use the ending -e when modifying both masculine and feminine nouns.

• un libro interessante (an interesting book)
• una storia interessante (an interesting story)

Plural forms of Italian adjectives

Rule	Masculine, singular	Masculine, plural	Feminine, singular	Feminine, plural
-o changes to -i  -a changes to -e	il ragazzo alto (the tall boy)	i ragazzi alti (the tall boys)	la ragazza alta (the tall girl)	le ragazze alte  (the tall girls)
-e changes to -i, regardless of the gender	il libro interessante (the interesting book)	i libri interessanti (the interesting books)	la storia interessante (the interesting story)	le storie interessanti (the interesting stories)
-ista (both masc. and sing.) changes to  -isti (masc.) and to -iste (fem.)	un uomo ottimista (an optimistic man)	uomini ottimisti (optimistic men)	una donna ottimista (an optimistic woman)	donne ottimiste (optimistic women)

Irregular Italian adjectives

Italian has several irregular adjectives that don’t follow the standard rules. The most common are:

	Comparative	Superlative
buono (good)	migliore (better)	ottimo (best)
cattivo (bad)	peggiore (worse)	pessimo (worst)
grande (big)	maggiore (bigger)	massimo (biggest)
piccolo (small)	minore (smaller)	minimo (smallest)

Types of adjectives in Italian

Possessive adjectives

	Masculine singular		Feminine singular
my	il mio	il mio cane (my dog)	la mia	la mia casa (my house)
your	il tuo	il tuo cane	la tua	la tua casa
his/her	il suo	il suo cane	la sua	la sua casa
our	il nostro	il nostro cane	la nostra	la nostra casa
your (pl.)	il vostro	il vostro cane	la vostra	la vostra casa
their	il loro	il loro cane	la loro	la loro casa

	Masculine plural		Feminine plural
my	i miei	i miei amici (my friends)	le mie	le mie sorelle (my sisters)
your	i tuoi	i tuoi amici	le tue	le tue sorelle
his/her	i suoi	i suoi amici	le sue	le sue sorelle
our	i nostri	i nostri amici	le nostre	le nostre sorelle
your (pl.)	i vostri	i vostri amici	le vostre	le vostre sorelle
their	i loro	i loro amici	le loro	le loro sorelle

Note: Similarly to English, possessive adjectives in Italian can sometimes replace nouns to avoid redundancy. In these cases, the article precedes the adjective, agreeing with its gender and number. For example:

• Mio fratello suona la chitarra. Il suo suona la batteria. (My brother plays guitar. Hers plays the drums.)

In the above example, il (determinate article) + suo (possessive adjective) replaces suo fratello (her brother) in the second sentence. It’s apparent from the context that we are referring to “her brother.”

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Demonstrative adjectives 

Demonstrative adjectives indicate the proximity of a noun relative to the speaker.

Adjective variant	Masculine, singular	Masculine, plural	Feminine, singular	Feminine, plural
questo/a	questo libro (this book)	questi libri  (these books)	questa penna (this pen)	queste penne (these pens)
quello + s + consonant, x, y, z, gn, ps, pn	quello students (that student)	quegli student (those students)	n/a	n/a
quel + consonant	quel libro (that book)	quei libri (those books)	n/a	n/a
quell’ + vowel	quell’ amico (that friend)	quegli amici (those friends)	quell’ amica (that friend)	quelle amiche (those friends)
quella + consonant	n/a	n/a	quella tavola (that table)	quelle tavole (those tables)

Indefinite and quantitative adjectives

Indefinite and quantitative adjectives describe nouns in a nonspecific way. They 

provide general information about quantity or type, without exact numbers or characteristics.

Type	Meaning	Masculine, sing.	Masculine, plur.	Feminine, sing.	Feminine, plur
Indefinite	some, a few	qualche		qualche
			alcuni		alcuni
	each, every	ogni		ogni
	any, whichever	qualunque		qualunque
Quantitative	much, many	molto*	molti*	molta*	molte*
		tanto*	tanti*	tanta*	tante*
	few, little	poco	pochi	poca	poche
	too much/many	troppo	troppi	troppa	troppe
	all, every	tutto	tutti	tutta	tutte

* Molto and tanto are generally interchangeable, but: 

• When they precede nouns, they must agree in number and gender
• Before adjectives and adverbs, molto is preferred. So you would say molto veloce (very fast) instead of tanto veloce.
• Before meglio (better), peggio (worse), più (more), meno (less), prima (before) and dopo (after), molto is preferred.
• You can’t use them together! 

Descriptive adjectives

Descriptive adjectives provide specific details about a noun's qualities or characteristics, such as its color, size, shape or personality.

• La casa grande è vicino al lago. (The big house is near the lake.)
• Il gatto nero dorme sul divano. (The black cat is sleeping on the couch.)
• Abbiamo trovato un fiore bellissimo. (We found a beautiful flower.)

Placement of adjectives in Italian sentences

Descriptive adjectives typically come after the noun, and they describe qualities like color, shape or mood:

• Un libro interessante → an interesting book
• Una macchina veloce → a fast car

Quantifiers and possessives, however, usually come before the noun:

• La mia casa → my house
• Troppo zucchero (fa male) → too much sugar (is bad for you)

Some adjectives can also subtly change the meaning or emphasis, depending on their position:

• Un grande uomo → a great man (in terms of character)
• Un uomo grande → a big man (in terms of size)

Lists of essential Italian adjectives by category

The following lists of adjectives aren’t exhaustive, but they’ll give you a solid base to start building your vocabulary.

Adjectives for physical descriptions 

tall	alto/a	al-toh	Lei è alta. (She is tall.)
short	basso/a	bah-soh	Mia sorella è bassa. (My sister is short.)
thin	magro/a	mah-groh	Lui è sempre stato magro. (He has always been thin.)
fat	grasso/a	grah-soh	Il gatto è un po' grasso. (The cat is a bit fat.)
beautiful	bello/a	beh-loh	Roma è bellissima. (Rome is beautiful.)
ugly	brutto/a	broo-toh	Oggi è una giornata brutta. (Today is an ugly day.)
young	giovane	jioh-vah-neh	Mio cugino è giovane. (My cousin is young.)
old	vecchio/a	ve-kioh	Lui ha un cane vecchio. (He has an old dog.)

Adjectives for common situations

important	importante	eem-por-tan-teh	Questa riunione è importante. (This meeting is important)
easy	facile	fah-chee-leh	Il compito è facile. (The homework is easy.)
difficult	difficile	dee-fee-chee-leh	Questo esame è difficile. (This exam is difficult.)
fun	divertente	dee-ver-ten-teh	La festa è stata divertente. (The party was fun.)
boring	noioso/a	noh-ee-oh-soh	Il film era noioso. (The movie was boring.)
simple	semplice	sem-plee-cheh	La ricetta è semplice. (The recipe is simple.)
complicated	complicato/a	com-plee-kah-toh	Il progetto è complicato. (The project is complicated.)
convenient	conveniente	con-veh-nee-en-teh	Questi prezzi sono convenient. (These  prices are convenient.)

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Adjectives for personality and mood 

happy	felice	feh-lee-cheh	Oggi sono felice! (Today I am happy!)
sad	triste	tris-teh	Lui è triste. (He is sad.)
kind	gentile	jen-tee-leh	La mia collega è gentile. (My colleague is kind.)
patient	paziente	pah-tsee-en-teh	Il professore è molto paziente. (The teacher is very patient.)
energetic	energico/a	eh-ner-jee-coh	Mia madre è energica. (My mother is energetic.)
calm	calmo/a	kal-moh	Lui è sempre calmo. (He is always calm.)
optimistic	ottimista	oh-tee-mees-tah	Loro sono ottimisti. (They are optimistic.)
pessimistic	pessimista	peh-see-mees-tah	Non essere pessimista. (Don’t be pessimistic.)

Adjectives for food and flavor

delicious	delizioso/a	deh-lee-tseeoh-soh	Questo dessert è delizioso! (This dessert is delicious!)
flavorful	saporito/a	sah-poh-ree-toh	Il sugo è molto saporito. (The sauce is very flavorful.)
spicy	piccante	peek-kan-teh	Questa salsa è piccante. (This sauce is spicy.)
sweet	dolce	dohl-cheh	La torta è dolce. (The cake is sweet.)
bitter	amaro/a	ah-mah-roh	Il caffè è amaro. (The coffee is bitter.)
salty	salato/a	sah-lah-toh	Il formaggio è salato. (The cheese is salty.)
sour	acido/a	ah-chee-doh	Il limone è acido. (The lemon is sour.)
fresh	fresco/a	fres-coh	Questo pesce è fresco. (This fish is fresh.)
juicy	succoso/a	soo-coh-soh	Questo pomodoro è succoso. (This tomato is juicy.)
tasty	gustoso/a	goos-toh-soh	Il risotto è gustoso. (The risotto is tasty.)

FAQs

Do adjectives have gender in Italian?

Yes, they change to match the gender and the number of the noun they describe.

What are the four possible endings for adjectives in Italian?

While there are several possible endings in Italian (-ista, -ante), the ending vowel usually gives you an idea of what gender they match with: -o (masculine singular), -a (feminine singular), -i (masculine plural), and -e (feminine plural).

What are the most frequently used adjectives in Italian?

Among the most frequently used adjectives in Italian, you find: bello (beautiful), buono (good), grande (big, great), piccolo (small), nuovo (new), vecchio (old), giovane (young), alto (tall, high), basso (short, low), bravo (talented, good)

Ultima nota (one last note, before you go) 

Learning Italian adjectives is an essential step on your path to fluency. They take many shapes and forms, but these words will enrich your conversations and descriptions. With practice, you’ll not only expand on the pool of adjectives you have available, but you’ll feel more confident when using them. If you choose to learn Italian with Lingoda, rest assured that you’ll be propelled toward that confidence in an interactive and immersive setting. 

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