The plural

How to form the plural in Italian

Like English, Italian has two numbers: singular and plural. The plural in Italian is most commonly formed by changing the final vowel of a noun.

How the vowel is changed depends on the gender of the noun itself, which can be either masculine or feminine. Let’s see why.

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Plural of masculine nouns

The plural in Italian of masculine nouns depends on the last vowel of the noun.

Masculine words ending in -e and -o take -i.

Masculine words that end in -a can either remain unchanged or take -i.

Masculine words ending in –io take -ii if the -i carries the stress.

If the -i- does NOT carry the stress, they just drop the final -o.

Masculine words ending in -ca and -ga take -chi and -ghi, respectively.

Masculine words ending in -co and -go take either -chi/ghi or ci/gi depending on where the stress is.

If the stress is on the second to last (penult) syllable, the plural in Italian will be -chi/ghi.

If the stress is on the third to last (antepenult) syllable, the plural of the word will be -ci/gi.

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Plural of feminine nouns

Feminine words ending in -a take -e.

Feminine words ending in -e take -i, as do masculine nouns ending in the same vowel.

Feminine words ending in -ca and -ga take -che and -ghe, respectively. For example, the plural in Italian for the word mucca is mucche, as we saw at the very beginning of this lesson.

Feminine words ending in -scia take -sce.

Feminine words ending in -o are either unchanged or take -i. Nouns that take -i are very rare.

Feminine words ending in -cia/gia always take on -cie/gie if the -i- carries the stress.

If the -i- doesn’t carry the stress, the plural can be either -cia/gie or -ce/ge, depending on the letter that comes before the final syllable. If it’s a vowel, the plural is -cia/gie. If it’s a consonant, the plural is -ce/ge.

It sounds complicated, so let me give you an example…

In camicia, the letter that precedes the -cia syllable is a vowel (i). Its plural in Italian is then camicie, with an -i-. The same is true for ciliegia, whose plural is ciliegie because the preceding letter is a vowel (e).

In arancia, however, the letter preceding the -cia syllable is a consonant (n). Its plural is arance, without an -i-. The same is true for forgia, where the preceding letter is also a consonant (r), so its plural in Italian will be forge.

If this rule still sounds daunting to remember, know that even native Italian speakers can’t always tell when to use -cie/ce or -gie/ge! 😉

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Unchanged plural in Italian

Many nouns don’t change vowels in the plural. These are mostly:

• monosyllabic nouns
• foreign words
• some masculine nouns ending in -a (see paragraph Plural of masculine nouns)
• some feminine nouns ending in -o (see paragraph Plural of feminine nouns)
• words that end in a stressed vowel
• nouns ending in -ie and -i

For example…

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Irregular plurals in Italian

A number of Italian nouns have only one form, singular or plural. For example, legname, which translates to timber in English, is a masculine singular noun and has no plural form. The same is true for abstract nouns such as codardia, cowardice, or fedeltà, loyalty.

Some common nouns that are only plural are occhiali (glasses), pantaloni (trousers) and forbici (scissors). As you can see, they are always plural in English as well!

Other nouns can have more than one plural, such as braccio, arm. It can either be braccia, meaning human arms, or bracci, the arms of a mechanical structure.

Other nouns are masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural.

Whenever you come across a new word in Italian, always check a dictionary to see what its plural form is! If you don’t have a dictionary at hand, the following table will cover most Italian words:

	Singular	Plural
Masculine -o	Albero	Alberi
Masculine -e	Prigione	Prigioni
Masculine -a	Sistema	Sistemi
Feminine -a	Mamma	Mamme
Feminine in -e	Tigre	Tigri
Feminine in -o	Mano	Mani

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