Italian All-in-One For Dummies (109 page)

Regular adjectives

Regular adjectives are those that modify only the last letter to change either gender and number or only number.
Table 4-1
shows the possible variations and some example adjectives.

When used after a noun,
bello
(
beautiful
) and
buono
(
good
) are regular adjectives with four possible endings. When used before a noun, though, they don't take the same endings as all other adjectives ending in
-o
. Instead, they follow these rules:

Bello
follows the rules of the definite article:

• Use
bel
before a singular masculine noun that starts with one or more consonants (exceptions follow):
bel treno
(
beautiful train
); use
bei
with the same kinds of nouns in the plural:
bei treni
(
beautiful trains
).

• Use
bello
before a singular masculine noun starting with
gn-
,
pn-
,
ps-
,
s
+ consonant,
z-
,
x-
, or
y-
:
bello spazio
(
beautiful space
); use
begli
with the same kinds of nouns in the plural:
begli spazi
(
beautiful spaces
).

• Use
bell'
before a singular masculine noun starting with a vowel:
bell'orologio
(
beautiful watch
); use
begli
with the same kinds of nouns in the plural:
begli orologi
(
beautiful watches
).

• Before a singular or plural feminine noun, use
bella
and
belle:
bella ragazza
(
beautiful girl
),
belle ragazze
(
beautiful girls
).

Buon
follows the rules of

• The indefinite article when used with singular nouns: For example, before a singular masculine noun that starts with a vowel or consonant, use
buon: buon anno
(
good year
),
buono sconto
(
good discount
),
buona fortuna
(
good luck
),
and
buon'amica
(
good friend
).

• The definite article when used with plural nouns: Used with plural nouns, it works as a four-ending adjective, so you'd say:
buoni zii
(
good uncles
),
buone famiglie
(
good families
).

See
Chapter 2
of Book III for details on the rules of definite and indefinite articles. The later section “
Putting adjectives in their place
” explains where to use adjectives properly.

Irregular adjectives

When forming plurals, irregular adjectives modify more letters than just the last one, usually to preserve the soft or hard sound of the singular masculine, as in
bianco, bianca, bianchi, bianche
(
white
). But many times, the variations from the norm are accidents of history, for which the reasons are unknown.
Table 4-2
breaks down the ending changes for irregular adjectives, with examples.

Table 4-2 Variations of Irregular Adjective Endings

Invariable adjectives

A few adjectives are
invariable,
meaning that the ending remains the same regardless of how the noun changes in gender or number. Key invariable adjectives include the following:

Some adjectives for color:
blu
(
blue
),
beige
(
beige
),
lilla/lillà
(
lilac
),
rosa
(
pink
),
turchese
(
turquoise
), and
viola
(
violet; mauve
)

The word
arrosto
(
roasted
)