The Italian Adjective

Italian adjectives must agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the nouns they modify.

The adjective always harmonises with the noun to which it refers to, even if it is not directly next to the noun.
The adjective must agree with the noun in terms of grammatical gender (masculine, feminine) and number (singular, plural).

💬 Examples:
l'amica gentile (f, sg) – the nice friend
il maestro affabile (m, sg) – the friendly teacher
le amiche gentili (f, pl) – the nice friends
i maestri affabili (m, pl) – the friendly teachers

In Italian, predicative adjectives i.e. adjectives that are used together with the verb “essere” (to be) are also harmonised with the noun.

💬 Examples:
La bicicletta è rapida (f, sg). – The bicycle is fast.
Le biciclette sono rapide (f, pl). – The bicycles are fast.
Il ragazzo è bravo (m, sg). – The boy is well behaved.
I ragazzi sono bravi (m, pl). – The boys are well behaved.

Italian knows four types of adjectives.

Descriptive adjectives
They describe qualities or states.

💬 Examples:
alto – tall
vecchio – old

Possessive adjectives
This type indicates possession.

💬 Examples:
mio – my
tuo – your

Demonstrative adjectives
They point out specific items.

💬 Examples:
questo – this
quello – that

Quantitative Adjectives
The fourth type indicates quantity.

💬 Examples:
molto – much, many
poco – few, little

➠ Two Groups of Adjectives