A. In Italian, we make most nouns plural by changing their endings.
In the chart below, you can see how the most common endings change to form the plural.
B. Masculine nouns have the following rules and exceptions when forming the plural:
C. Feminine nouns make the following changes when forming the plural:
D. Some nouns are invariable, meaning that they have the same ending in the singular and in the plural.
E. Irregular plurals
In the chart below, you can see how the most common endings change to form the plural.
Change | Singular | Plural |
| -o --> -i | il ragazzo | i ragazzi |
| -a --> -e | la casa | le case |
| -e --> -i | il giornale / la lezione | i giornali / le lezioni |
B. Masculine nouns have the following rules and exceptions when forming the plural:
- Nouns ending in -co. The formation of the plural for these nouns depends on whether the second-to-last syllable is stressed or not. In the following tables, the italicized letters indicate where the stress in the word is.
Stress is on the syllable preceding -co
parco --> parchi gioco --> giochi tedesco --> tedeschi
Exceptions: greco, nemico (enemy), and porco (swine) all follow the pattern amico --> amici.Stress is on the second syllable preceding -co
medico --> medici meccanico --> meccanici
Exception: carico (load, burden) --> carichi
- Nouns ending in -go. The plural of these nouns is usually -ghi, with exceptions being scholarly or professional titles ending in -ologo.
luogo --> luoghi psicologo --> psicologi - Nouns ending in -io. The plural of these nouns varies, depending on whether or not the final i is stressed. In the following table, the italicized letters indicate where the stress in the word is.
i in -io stressed --> -ii zio --> zii i in -io NOT stressed --> -i figlio --> figli - Masculine nouns ending in -a change in the following ways:
Change
Singular
Plural
-a --> -i il problema i problemi -ista --> -isti il pianista i pianisti -ca --> -chi il monarca i monarchi -ga --> -ghi il collega i colleghi
C. Feminine nouns make the following changes when forming the plural:
- Nouns ending in -ca and -ga change to -che and -ghe, respectively
Change
Singular
Plural
-ca --> -che l’amica le amiche -ga --> -ghe la collega le colleghe - Feminine nouns ending in -cia and -gia will have variable plurals, depending on whether the -i- in the word is stressed, or not. In the following examples, letters are italicized to indicate stress.
i in -cia is stressed --> -cie farmacia --> farmacie i in -cia is NOT stressed --> -ce arancia --> arance i in -gia is stressed --> -gie allergia --> allergie i in -gia is NOT stressed --> -ge spiaggia --> spiagge
D. Some nouns are invariable, meaning that they have the same ending in the singular and in the plural.
- Nouns which end in a consonant (mostly foreign words)
uno sport due sport un’email due email - Nouns which end in an accented vowel
una città due città un caffè due caffè - Nouns ending in -i
una tesi due tesi un brindisi due brindisi - Nouns ending in -ie
Important exception:una specie due specie una serie due serie una moglie due mogli - Family names
i Caruso (the Carusos) - Nouns of one syllable
un re due re una gru due gru - Words abbreviated from other words (for full listing, see previous lesson on singular nouns)
un cinema due cinema una foto due foto
E. Irregular plurals
- A few commonly used nouns have a completely irregular plural form
l’uomo gli uomini il dio gli dei il bue i buoi il tempio i templi - Some masculine nouns become feminine in the plural
il braccio le braccia il ciglio le ciglia il dito le dita il labbro le labbra il miglio le miglia l’osso le ossa il paio le paia il sopracciglio le sopracciglia l’uovo le uova