Italian All-in-One For Dummies (100 page)

provincia
(
province
)
province
(
provinces
)

spiaggia
(
beach
)
spiagge
(
beaches
)

camicia
(
shirt
)
camicie
(
shirts
)

valigia
(
suitcase
)
valigie
(
suitcases
)

Nouns that end in
-cìa
or
-gìa,
accented on the
ì,
form the plural by adding
-ie,
for example
allergia
(
allergy
) becomes
allergie
(
allergies
). However, be aware that the accent isn't marked in Italian, so you have to figure out which nouns are accented on the
i
as you go along.

Nouns ending in
-io
take
-ii
in the plural if the accent falls on the
ì
and take only
-i
if the accent falls on a preceding syllable (the accent isn't marked). Here are a couple examples:

pendio
(
slope
)
pendii
(
slopes
)

viaggio
(
trip
)
viaggi
(
trips
)

If nouns end in
-ia,
the plural is regular; for example,
biglia
(
pinball
) becomes
biglie
(
pinballs
).

Some nouns change gender from the singular to the plural. The following words are among the most frequently used:

il dito
(
finger; toe
)
le dita
(
fingers; toes
)

l'uovo
(
egg
)
le uova
(
eggs
)

il ginocchio
(
knee
)
le ginocchia
(
knees
)

il braccio
(
arm
)
le braccia
(
arms
)

Changing only the article

Some nouns are
invariable,
so you need to check the article to find out whether they're used in the singular or in the plural form. Some common examples include the following:

Masculine nouns:
cinema, brindisi, caffè, film, re

Feminine nouns:
radio, metropoli, città, serie, gru, virtù, novità, possibilità

Using nouns only in the singular or the plural

You can use some nouns only in the singular or only in the plural. Following are some categories of singular nouns, along with some examples:

Abstractions:
il coraggio
(
courage
),
la fede
(
faith
)

Chemical elements and metals:
l'oro
(
gold
),
il rame
(
copper
)

Some festivities:
il Natale
(
Christmas
),
la Pasqua
(
Easter
)

Foods:
il grano
(
wheat
),
il vino
(
wine
),
l'acqua
(
water
),
il latte
(
milk
)

Nouns such as
la fame
(
hunger
),
la sete
(
thirst
),
il sangue
(
blood
)

When used in the plural, nouns such as
i vini
and
le acque minerali
mean
kinds of wine
and
kinds of mineral water,
respectively;
le fedi
means
confessions.

Following are some categories of nouns used in the plural, along with some examples:

Objects that come in pairs (often preceded by
un paio di . . .
[
a pair of . . .
]):
i pantaloni/un paio di pantaloni
(
trousers/a pair of trousers
),
gli occhiali/un paio di occhiali
(
eyeglasses/a pair of eyeglasses
),
le forbici/un paio di forbici
(
scissors/a pair of scissors
)