italiano · A1 · grammar · 4 minutes
Adjective agreement and position
Make adjectives match nouns and notice when position changes emphasis or meaning.
Understand the choice
Most descriptive adjectives follow the noun, which makes agreement easy to see. Some common adjectives precede it, and position can shade meaning, but gender and number always follow the noun described.
Core rule: Four-form adjectives in -o use -o/-a/-i/-e; two-form adjectives in -e use -e singular and -i plural.
Notice it in context
La casa bianca ha due finestre grandi.
The white house has two large windows.
Bianca agrees with casa; grandi is the plural of grande and agrees with finestre.
Un ragazzo italiano parla con due ragazze francesi.
An Italian boy speaks with two French girls.
Italiano is masculine singular; francesi is feminine plural but uses two-form -i.
Ho una piccola camera e un balcone grande.
I have a small room and a large balcony.
Piccola precedes camera; grande follows balcone but both agree.
What to remember
- Bello and buono have special forms before nouns resembling articles.
- Grande may become gran before some singular nouns.
Common trap: Do not match an adjective to the nearest unrelated noun; identify the noun it describes.