Adjectives in Italian Form and Agreement

An adjective is a word that qualifies a noun; for example, a  good  boy. In Italian an adjective agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies. In Italian there are two groups of adjectives: those ending in  -o  and those ending in  -e. Adjectives ending in  -o  in the masculine have four forms: Maschile Femminile Singolare -o -a Plurale -i -e il libro italiano la signora italiana i libri italiani le signore italiane il primo giorno la mensa universitaria i primi giorni le mense universitarie If an adjective ends in  -io, the  o  is dropped to form the plural. labito vecchio  (the old suit)gli abiti vecchi  (the old suits)il ragazzo serio  (the serious boys)i ragazzi seri  (the serious boys) Uli à ¨ tedesco.  (Uli is German.)Adriana à ¨ italiana.  (Adriana is Italian.)Roberto e Daniele sono americani.  (Robert and Daniel are American.)Svetlana e Natalia sono russe.  (Svetlana and Natalia are Russian.) Adjectives ending in  -e  are the same for the masculine and the feminine singular. In the plural, the  -e  changes to  -i. il ragazzo  inglese  (the English boy)la ragazza  inglese  (the English girl)i ragazzi  inglesi  (the English boys)le ragazze  inglesi  (the English girls) An adjective modifying two nouns of different gender is masculine. i padri e le madre italiani  (Italian fathers and mothers)