Download on the App StoreOpen in the appIn the app
Half of A1 and 3 exercises a day: freeApp Store★★★★★(6)by Alessio, a teacher since 2018Continue in the app →

Grammar · A1

Adjectives and agreement

by Alessio · teacher of Italian as a foreign language, ITALS master’s

A long rail of coats and jackets in a shop · Italian grammar A1
Italian shop windows: every garment is an agreement drill.

Italian adjectives are loyal: they follow the noun in gender and number, always. Un vestito rosso, una giacca rossa, due scarpe rosse. The rule is one: change the ending together with the noun.

  • 5min reading
  • 15min exercises
  • A1level

What you learn

  • in -o (4 forme), in -e (2 forme)
  • When to use adjectives and agreement
  • The two families of adjectives
  • Vocabulary: i vestiti e la moda

Italian and English side by side

In English the adjective sits before the noun and never changes: a red car, red cars. In Italian it normally comes after and agrees in gender and number: una macchina rossa, due macchine rosse. A handful of common adjectives can go before, and when they do the meaning often shifts: un vecchio amico is a friend of long standing, un amico vecchio is an elderly one.

Half of A1 and 3 exercises a day: freeApp Store★★★★★(6)by Alessio, a teacher since 2018Continue in the app →

The words on this page

Drag each Italian word onto its definition, or tap a word first, then its box.

The two families of adjectives

TypeFormsBoutique examples
in -o (4 forme)-o, -a, -i, -erosso, rossa, rossi, rosse
in -e (2 forme)-e, -ielegante, eleganti (per tutti i generi)

Adjectives usually follow the noun: una borsa nera, un cappotto lungo. A few short, very common ones can precede it: bello, brutto, grande, piccolo, nuovo, vecchio.

With nouns of different genders together, masculine plural wins: la gonna e il cappotto sono nuovi.
ColoursBehaviour
rosso, nero, bianco, giallosi accordano normalmente
blu, rosa, viola, beigeinvariabili: le scarpe blu, i pantaloni rosa

The most common mistakes

  • una giacca rosso → una giacca rossa (feminine: -a)
  • le scarpe eleganti e neri → le scarpe eleganti e nere (feminine plural agreement)
  • i pantaloni blues → i pantaloni blu (blu is invariable)

Did you know?

Italian slices blue more finely than English: blu is dark blue, azzurro the lighter sky-blue, celeste paler still. Azzurro is also the national colour: the football team are gli Azzurri, and a light-blue shirt has meant “Italy” since 1911.

Read and understand

This chapter’s grammar. Example: a sale sign.

Saldi di fine stagione

Via Rizzoli 8 · Bologna

Camicia bianca, cotone leggero29

Scarpe nere italiane89

Giacca lunga e calda129

Sciarpe colorate, lana morbida19

Borse piccole in pelle vera59

Ultima settimana: prezzi piccoli, scelta grande.

Questions

Quanto costano le sciarpe?

Perché «scarpe nere» e non «scarpe nero»?

Completa: «una borsa ___» (rosso).

A shop window in Naples with sale balloons: up to 30%, up to 50%
Prezzi piccoli, scelta grande: the adjective agrees with the noun.

Exercises

Five exercises in order of difficulty. The last ones bring back what you have already seen.

  1. 01 Accordo semplice

    Complete the ending of the adjective.

    1. un ragazzo alt
    2. una ragazza alt
    3. due libri nuov
    4. due case bell
    5. la pizza calda? No, fredd
    6. i giorni lungh

  2. 02 Gli aggettivi in -e

    These have one single form in the singular. Complete.

    1. un esercizio facil
    2. una domanda facil
    3. due esercizi facil
    4. due domande facil
    5. un ragazzo gentil
    6. due ragazze gentil

  3. 03 Colori e invariabili

    Careful: blu, rosa, viola, arancione do not change (or barely do).

    1. due maglie ross
    2. due maglie blu →
    3. tre fiori ros
    4. due macchine ner
    5. due sciarpe viola →
    6. due porte verd

  4. 04 Maschile e femminile insieme

    When the group is mixed, the adjective goes to the masculine plural. Complete.

    1. Marco e Luca sono italian
    2. Anna e Sara sono italian
    3. Marco e Anna sono italian
    4. Il libro e la penna sono nuov
    5. La madre e le figlie sono stanc
    6. Il padre e le figlie sono stanc

  5. 05 Descrivi la stanza

    Complete with article, noun and adjective, all in agreement. Example: (tavolo / grande) → il tavolo grande.

    Review articoli · genere e numero

    1. (finestra / aperto) →
    2. (libri / vecchio) →
    3. (sedie / comodo) →
    4. (zaino / nero) →
    5. (amiche / simpatico) →
    6. (alberghi / caro) →

These five are a taste. There are over seven hundred on the site, free and with no sign-up. All the exercises →

Take this page with you

This chapter’s sheet as a printable PDF (tables in Italian): rules, typical mistakes and the quiz with answers. A teacher’s tip: grammar sticks by reviewing it often, not by studying it once.

Download the sheet (PDF)
App TiApp TiApp Ti

Every topic, a world

In the Ti app, grammar is practised inside thematic pathways with field-specific vocabulary: il bar, i trasporti, il calcio, la moda, la burocrazia and seventeen more. Choose your world and the grammar comes along by itself, explained in your language too.

Half the path free, no sign-up

€5,83 a monthon the yearly plan

★★★★★(6)by Alessio, a teacher since 2018

Download Ti for iPhone ↗︎

Search for amo Italian

The window of a clothes shop in via Luccoli, Genoa
Camicie bianche, giacche corte: every garment brings its own agreement.

Read and understand

This chapter’s grammar. Example: a shop's email.

Nuovi arrivi di primavera

daBottega Rizzoli <info@bottegarizzoli.it>

aclienti@bottegarizzoli.it

datagio 14 mar, 08:30

Buongiorno,

sono arrivati i capi nuovi: camicie bianche e azzurre, maglie morbide, giacche corte.

La lana è italiana e i colori sono caldi. Le taglie piccole finiscono presto.

Vi aspettiamo in una bottega piccola ma piena di cose belle.

A presto,
Elena

Questions

Quali taglie finiscono presto?

Perché «maglie morbide» e non «maglie morbidi»?

Completa: «i colori ___» (vivace).

Want another text on this topic? A rental ad · Gelato flavours

One more go

Make the adjective agree:

  1. Ho comprato una camicia .
  2. Queste scarpe sono troppo .
  3. Cerco un cappotto .
  4. Le borse sono in vetrina.
  5. Il vestito e la giacca sono .

Frequently asked questions

Why doesn’t viola change: due maglie viola?

A few colour adjectives are invariable because they were born as nouns: viola (the flower), rosa (the rose), blu. So: una sciarpa viola, due sciarpe viola, i pantaloni blu. All the other colours agree normally: rosse, gialli, verdi.

Does the adjective go before or after the noun?

After, as a default: un vestito elegante, una giacca nuova. Some very common adjectives also sit comfortably before (una bella giornata, un buon caffè), and at higher levels position even changes meaning: that story is in the chapter on adjective position.

Why is it molto belle and not molte belle?

Because there molto is an adverb (“very”) and adverbs never agree: le scarpe sono molto belle. It agrees only when it means “many” and sits before a noun: molte scarpe, molti amici. The test: if you can replace it with “very”, it stays molto.