Key takeaways
- Wikipedia's Italian grammar article gives the core pattern: -o becomes -i, -a becomes -e, and -e becomes -i.
- Nouns ending in a stressed vowel, a consonant or a letter other than a, e or o are normally invariable: la città, le città; il film, i film.
- Masculine nouns in -a, such as atleta and poeta, take -i in the plural.
- For -co and -go there are only rules of thumb, and Wikipedia quotes grammarians as sceptical of any firm ruling: amici but funghi.
- A few nouns switch to feminine -a in the plural (l'uovo, le uova), and a few are genuinely irregular, such as uomo, uomini.
Italian plural nouns are made by changing the last vowel rather than adding an ending, so libro becomes libri and nothing is tacked on. Three swaps cover the core of the system, and the rest is a set of exceptions that each follow from something you can see: a stressed final vowel, a hard c or g, or a noun's Latin past. This explainer takes them in that order. The main source is Wikipedia's article on Italian grammar, with spelling points from its article on Italian orthography.
The three main swaps
Wikipedia's table of general endings shows the pattern, with the article and adjective changing alongside the noun.
| Singular ending | Plural ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -o (masculine) | -i | il cappello nero → i cappelli neri, the black hats |
| -a (feminine) | -e | la bella macchina → le belle macchine, the beautiful cars |
| -e (either gender) | -i | il/la comandante → i/le comandanti, the commanders |
| -a (masculine) | -i | l'atleta → gli atleti, the athletes |
The fourth row is the one to watch. A masculine noun ending in -a, such as atleta or poeta, takes -i, not -e: i poeti. The -e row also hides gender, since -e nouns can be either; il cane "the dog" and la parete "the wall" both become -i (i cani, le pareti). Knowing the gender, which the article tells you, is the job of Italian articles and gender.
One smaller rule: Wikipedia notes that most masculine nouns ending in -io, with the i pronounced as a glide, drop the -o and end in a single -i: esempio → esempi, funzionario → funzionari.
Nouns that do not change
Wikipedia says nouns ending in any letter other than -a, -e or -o, and nouns ending in a stressed vowel, are normally invariable. Only the article shows the plural:
- la città → le città, the cities
- il caffè → i caffè, the coffees
- la gru → le gru, the cranes
- il film → i film, the films
- unadapted loanwords: il manager → i manager
Feminine nouns in -ie also stay put: la specie → le specie. In all of these, as Wikipedia puts it, only the article carries the information about gender and number, so le città is plural purely because of le.
Keeping c and g hard or soft
The spelling rules from Italian pronunciation shape the plurals of nouns ending in c or g plus a vowel. Because -ci and -gi are soft, a hard sound needs an h.
-ca and -ga always keep the hard sound: amica → amiche, female friends.
-co and -go are the unpredictable group. Wikipedia quotes the observation that "the grammarians are skeptical of any attempt at giving a ruling about this area", and offers rules of thumb:
| Before the ending | Plural | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a consonant or a stressed vowel | -chi, -ghi (hard) | fungo → funghi, fuoco → fuochi |
| an unstressed vowel | -ci, -gi (soft) | medico → medici, comico → comici |
| -logo meaning an expert | -logi | archeologo → archeologi |
| -logo meaning speech or reasoning | -loghi | catalogo → cataloghi |
The exceptions are common words: amico → amici and greco → greci soften despite the pattern, while valico → valichi stays hard.
-cia and -gia depend on the letter before. Wikipedia's orthography article gives the rule, in place since the 1950s: after a vowel the i is kept (camicia → camicie, valigia → valigie); after a consonant it is dropped (provincia → province, faccia → facce). If the i is stressed, it always stays: farmacia → farmacie.
Applying the rules to five nouns
Work each noun through the tables above in order: is the final vowel stressed? What is the ending? Is there a c or g before it?
- università: stressed final vowel → invariable → le università.
- ragazzo: masculine -o → -i → i ragazzi.
- lago: -go after a stressed vowel → hard → i laghi.
- pesca (peach): -ca → always hard → le pesche.
- arancia: -cia after a consonant → drop the i → le arance.
Five nouns, five different routes, but only one table lookup each. Of the five, 1 stays the same and 4 change, and the two hard-consonant plurals (laghi, pesche) both gained an h to keep their sound.
Feminine plurals and true irregulars
A small group of nouns, Wikipedia explains, come from Latin second-declension neuters, whose plurals ended in -a. They are masculine in the singular and become feminine -a in the plural:
- l'uovo → le uova, the eggs
- il braccio → le braccia (or i bracci), the arms
- il ginocchio → le ginocchia (or i ginocchi), the knees
- il dito → le dita, the fingers
Where two plurals exist, the meaning can split. Wikipedia gives le braccia, a person's arms, against i bracci, inlets or isthmuses; and le corna, an animal's horns, against i corni, the musical instruments.
A handful are genuinely irregular, mostly inherited from Vulgar Latin: uomo → uomini (men), dio → dei (gods, with gli as the article), bue → buoi (oxen) and tempio → templi (temples).
Learning plurals with their articles
Because the article often carries the plural on its own, it pays to learn each noun with it: la città, le città. Learn Italian for Beginners teaches articles and agreement through examples across its 12 units. It is one of our language-learning apps. The c and g plurals make more sense alongside the sound rules in our Italian pronunciation guide, and plural articles meet prepositions in the contractions covered in Italian prepositions.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
How do you make Italian nouns plural?
Which Italian nouns stay the same in the plural?
Is the plural of amico amici or amichi?
Why is the plural of uovo uova?
Sources
- Italian grammar (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
- Italian orthography (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
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