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Italian grammar A1: beginner

Adjectives

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Contents · A1
  1. Introducing yourself
  2. The present
  3. Want, can, must and the imperative
  4. The past
  5. Nouns and articles
  6. Adjectives
    1. Adjectives: agreement and position
    2. Very, much, little, too: molto, poco, troppo, tanto
    3. Well or good, badly or bad: bene, buono, male, cattivo
    4. All the: tutto il, tutta la, tutti i, tutte le
  7. Possessives
  8. Quantity
  9. Piacere
  10. Place and time
  11. Questions and the negative
  12. Linking sentences

An adjective agrees in gender and number with the noun it describes, whether it follows the noun directly or comes after essere, and it is usually placed after the noun. Molto, poco, troppo and tanto do not change before an adjective and agree before a noun; tutto agrees and is followed by the article.

Adjectives: agreement and position#

Formation

Adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -o have four forms: -o, -a, -i, -e (italiano, italiana, italiani, italiane). Adjectives whose singular ends in -e have two forms: -e in the singular, -i in the plural, for masculine and feminine alike (inglese, inglesi; grande, grandi). With a masculine noun and a feminine noun together, the adjective is masculine plural.

masculine singularfeminine singularmasculine pluralfeminine plural
in -onuovonuovanuovinuove
in -everdeverdeverdiverdi

Use

The adjective is usually placed after the noun; adjectives of colour and nationality always come after it: una macchina rossa, un ristorante cinese. A few short, frequent adjectives, such as piccolo, nuovo or grande, are placed after or before the noun: una casa piccola or una piccola casa. Before the noun, bello and buono take a shortened form (bel, buon).

  • Mio fratello ha una bicicletta nuova.My brother has a new bike.
  • Le mie amiche sono inglesi.My friends are English.
  • Questi pomodori sono rossi.These tomatoes are red.
  • Paolo e Anna sono stanchi.Paolo and Anna are tired.

Difference from English

An English adjective has one form and comes before the noun: “a red car”, “red cars”. An Italian adjective changes with the noun and usually follows it: una macchina rossa, due macchine rosse. The agreement holds after essere too: La casa è nuova, I bicchieri sono nuovi. The gender is that of the Italian noun, whatever the thing: il fiore giallo, la chiave gialla. Nationality adjectives are written with a small letter: inglese, italiano.

Common mistakes

  • Una rossa macchina. → Una macchina rossa.An adjective of colour is placed after the noun.
  • Una ragazza inglesa. → Una ragazza inglese.Adjectives in -e have the same form in the masculine and the feminine.
  • Le case sono altes. → Le case sono alte.The feminine plural ends in -e, with no -s.
  • Marco e Sara sono italiane. → Marco e Sara sono italiani.With a masculine noun and a feminine noun, the adjective is masculine plural.

Practise

“Adjectives: agreement, position, molto and tutto”, Adjectives in -o: four forms “Adjectives: agreement, position, molto and tutto”, Adjectives in -e: two forms “Adjectives: agreement, position, molto and tutto”, The position of the adjective

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Very, much, little, too: molto, poco, troppo, tanto#

Formation

Before an adjective or an adverb, molto (very), poco (not very), troppo (too) and tanto (so, very) are adverbs: they do not change, and only the adjective agrees. Before a noun, they are adjectives and agree with it like an adjective in -o: molto, molta, molti, molte; poco, poca, pochi, poche.

BeforeFormExample
an adjectiveinvariablemolto alte, troppo caro
a masculine nounmolto, moltimolto tempo, molti libri
a feminine nounmolta, moltemolta acqua, molte sedie

Use

Before a noun, these words translate “much, many, a lot of”, “little, few”, “too much, too many” and “so much, so many”. With avere fame and avere sete, “very” is molta or tanta, because fame and sete are feminine nouns: Ho molta sete (“I'm very thirsty”).

  • Questi pantaloni sono troppo lunghi.These trousers are too long.
  • Questa pizza è molto buona.This pizza is very good.
  • In città ci sono molte macchine.There are a lot of cars in town.
  • Oggi ho poco tempo.I haven't got much time today.
  • Abbiamo troppi vestiti.We have too many clothes.

Difference from English

Molto translates “very”, “much”, “many” and “a lot of”: in English the word changes, in Italian the form. Before a noun it agrees, so “many friends” is molti amici and “a lot of water” molta acqua; before an adjective it stays molto, like “very”. In the same way, troppo covers “too”, “too much” and “too many”.

Common mistakes

  • Le camere sono molte fredde. → Le camere sono molto fredde.Before an adjective, molto does not change.
  • Ho molto amici. → Ho molti amici.Before a noun, molto agrees with it.

Practise

“Adjectives: agreement, position, molto and tutto”, Before an adjective: molto, poco, troppo, tanto “Adjectives: agreement, position, molto and tutto”, Before a noun: molti libri, poca acqua

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Well or good, badly or bad: bene, buono, male, cattivo#

Formation

Buono (good) and cattivo (bad) are adjectives: they describe a noun and agree with it (buono, buona, buoni, buone). Bene (well) and male (badly) are adverbs: they modify a verb and do not change.

Use

After essere, the adjective is used: Questo pane è molto buono. With another verb, the adverb is used: Giulia canta bene. Stare bene and stare male express health: Oggi sto male.

  • Questi biscotti sono buoni.These biscuits are good.
  • Chiara canta molto bene.Chiara sings very well.
  • Il tempo è cattivo oggi.The weather is bad today.
  • Luca dorme male.Luca sleeps badly.

Difference from English

The division is the same as between “good” and “well” in English, and it is kept strictly: “you speak Italian good”, heard in casual English, is never buono in Italian. Health is expressed with stare, not essere: “I'm well” and “I'm fine” are Sto bene.

Common mistakes

  • Sono bene. → Sto bene.Health is expressed with stare bene.
  • Parli italiano buono. → Parli italiano bene.A verb is modified by the adverb bene.

Practise

“Adjectives: agreement, position, molto and tutto”, Well or good, badly or bad: bene, buono, male, cattivo

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All the: tutto il, tutta la, tutti i, tutte le#

Formation

Before a noun, tutto is followed by the definite article and agrees with the noun: tutto il, tutto lo, tutta la, tutti i, tutti gli, tutte le. The article has its usual form before the noun: tutto lo zucchero, tutti gli amici.

  • Tutti i negozi sono chiusi.All the shops are closed.
  • Ho lavorato tutto il giorno.I worked all day.
  • Tutta la classe è in giardino.The whole class is in the garden.
  • Tutte le camere hanno il bagno.All the rooms have a bathroom.

Difference from English

English says “all day”, “all students” or “the whole class”, with or without “the”; Italian always has the article after tutto: tutto il giorno, tutti gli studenti, tutta la classe. Tutto has four forms, tutto, tutta, tutti, tutte, like an adjective in -o.

Common mistakes

  • Tutti studenti. → Tutti gli studenti.Tutto is followed by the article.
  • Ho lavorato tutto giorno. → Ho lavorato tutto il giorno.“All day” is tutto il giorno, with the article.
  • Tutte la famiglia. → Tutta la famiglia.In the feminine singular, the form is tutta.

In short

PointRuleExample
adjectives in -ofour formsnuovo, nuova, nuovi, nuove
adjectives in -etwo formsgrande, grandi
positionusually after the noununa borsa nera
molto, poco… + adjectiveinvariablemolto alte
molto, poco… + nounagreesmolte sedie
adjective / adverbbuono, cattivo / bene, maleÈ buono. Canta bene.
tuttoagrees + articletutti gli amici

Practise

“Adjectives: agreement, position, molto and tutto”, All the: tutto il, tutta la, tutti i, tutte le

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