Italian All-in-One For Dummies (111 page)

In a few cases, the adjective changes meaning depending on whether you place it before or after the noun. For example, if you say
È un grand'uomo
(
He's a great man
), you mean something very different from
È un uomo grande
(
He's a big man
). You can find more on these adjectives in the later section “
Using placement to change an adjective's meaning
.”

Recognizing the adjectives that come before nouns

Italian has some basic adjectives that you place before nouns, such as the following:

bello
(
beautiful
)

brutto
(
ugly
)

buono
(
good
)

cattivo
(
nasty; evil
)

breve
(
short; brief
)

lungo
(
long
)

Using placement to change an adjective's meaning

Some adjectives change meaning depending on whether you place them before or after the nouns they qualify. For example, if you say
Ho rivisto un caro amico
(
I saw a dear friend again
),
caro
means
dear to your heart;
but if you say
È un negozio caro
(
It's an expensive store
),
caro
means
expensive.
Here's another example:
Solo
means
lonely
in
Un uomo solo è spesso triste
(
A lonely man is often sad
), and it means
only
in
Sono le sole pesche che abbiamo
(
These are the only peaches we have
).
Table 4-3
lists the most commonly used adjectives of this sort.

Table 4-3 Common Adjectives That Change Meaning Depending on Placement

Forming Adverbs the Italian Way

In Italian, adverbs add details and nuances by modifying verbs, adjectives, nouns, entire sentences, and other adverbs. Adverbs can radically change the meaning of what you're saying; for example,
Lia si comporta bene
(
Lia behaves well
) as opposed to
Lia si comporta male
(
Lia behaves badly
). Adverbs are invariable in the sense that they have neither gender nor number, so you don't have to worry about coordinating them to the words they modify.

In Italian, adverbs fall into two categories:

Original:
These adverbs aren't derived from other words, and they vary widely.

Derived:
These adverbs are derived from adjectives.

Original adverbs

Original adverbs don't have a fixed form, so you're forced to simply learn them as you go. Here are some important adverbs to remember:

abbastanza
(
enough
)

adesso/ora
(
now
)