Plural in Italian



Plurals in Italian generally change according to the gender of the singular noun, but there are exceptions.


Singular nouns ending in "o" end with an "i" in the plural:
  libro/libri (book/books), mano/mani (hand/hands), gatto/gatti (cat/cats)

Feminine singular nouns ending in "a" turn "e" in the plural:
  palla/palle (ball/balls), camera/camere (room/rooms), casa/case (house/houses)

Nouns ending in "e" turn "i" in plural:
  mare/mari (sea/seas), cane/cani (dog/dogs), chiave/chiavi (key/keys)

Masculine nouns ending in "a" become "i":
  problema/problemi (problem/problems), aroma/aromi (flavor/flavors)

Nouns ending with a stressed vowel don't change in the plural form:
  caffè/caffè (coffee/coffees), città/città (city/cities)

Some nouns don't change at all:
  re/re (king/kings), sosia/sosia (double/doubles)

There are also some irregular nouns which don't follow any rule:
  uomo/uomini (man/men), uovo/uova (egg/eggs), dio/dei (god/gods), braccio/braccia (arm/arms), osso/ossa (bone/bones), arma/armi (weapon/weapons), ala/ali (wing/wings)


Advanced rules (only for levels V2 and V3)

Nouns ending with "io" become "ii" if the accent is on the last "i":
  zio/zii (uncle/uncles), addio/addii (goodbye/goodbyes)

If the accent is on another syllable we just drop the "o":
  armadio/armadi (closet/closets), bacio/baci (kiss/kisses)

Nouns ending with "cio" and "gio" form the plural with "ci" and "gi" and drop the "o":
  micio/mici (kitty/kitties), saggio/saggi (essay/essays)

Nouns ending with "co" and "go" with the accent falling on the second-to-last syllable form the plural with "chi" and "ghi":
  ago/aghi (needle/needles)

Nouns ending with "co" and "go" with the accent falling on the third-to-last syllable form the masculine plural with "ci" and "gi":
  medico/medici (doctor/doctors), geologo/geologi (geologist/geologists)

Unfortunately this rule has many exceptions:
  amico/amici (friend/friends), carico/carichi (load/loads), obbligo/obblighi (obligation/obligations)

Masculine nouns ending with "ca" and "ga" form the plural with "chi" and "ghi":
  collega/colleghi (colleague/colleagues), monarca/monarchi (monarch/monarchs)

Feminine nouns ending with "ca" and "ga" form the plural with "che" and "ghe":
  amica/amiche (girlfriend/girlfriends), valanga/valanghe (avalanche/avalanches)

Feminine nouns ending with "cia" and "gia" form the plural with "cie" and "gie", when these syllables are preceded by a vowel:
  ciliegia/ciliegie (cherry/cherries), camicia/camicie (shirt/shirts)

But when these syllables are preceded by a consonant "cia" and "gia" form the plural with "ce" and "ge":
  provincial/province (province/provinces), goccia/gocce (drop/drops)

Nouns ending with "logo" usually form the plural with "loghi":
  dialogo/dialoghi (dialogue/dialogues)

Nouns ending with "logo" that defines a person will be "logi":
  radiologo/radiologi (radiologist/radiologists)


Plural in Italian
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