learn italian




  4.1 Introduction to the formation of the plural

The formation of the plural in Italian is not as straightforward and easy as it is in Spanish or English, where just an s must be added to form the plural (dog => dogs, perro => perros) and the few exception (woman => women) can be counted with one hand. In Italian the basic rules are a little bit more complicated, and there are more exceptions to the basic rules.

Let's start with the basic rule.

Words, which end in -a, form the plural on -e (and are feminine in general)
la casa => le case
the house => the houses
la donna => le donne
the woman => the women
la finestra => le finestre
the window => the windows
la ragazza => le ragazze
the girl => the girls
  Words, which end in -o, form the plural with -i (and are masculine in general)
il giorno => i giorni
the day => the days
il libro => i libri
the book => the books
l' anno => gli anni
the year => the years
il ragazzo => i ragazzi
the boy => the boys
  Words, which end in -e, form the plural in -i (in these case the gender must be learnt as well)
il mare => i mari
the sea => the seas
la notte => le notti
the night => the nights
la madre => le madri
the mother => the mothers
il padre => i padri
the father => the fathers
la chiave => le chiavi
the key => the keys






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