As we learned in the Gender of Nouns section, Italian nouns are "gendered"; that is, they can be "masculine" or "feminine". In this section, we will learn how to make nouns plural.

Plural nouns are formed in different ways depending on the gender and/or ending of the noun:

Masculine singular nouns that end in -o  form the plural by changing the ending to -i.​

• il libro (the book)

            i libri  (the books)​
​

• lo spazzolino (the toothbrush)

           gli spazzolini (the toothbrushes)​

• l'amico (the friend [m.])

           gli amici (the friends [m.] or [m/f])

Feminine singular nouns that end in -a form the plural by changing the ending to -e.

• la casa (the house)                     

           le case (the houses)
​

• l'acqua (the water)

           le acque (the waters)

• la donna (the woman)

           le donne (the women)

Nouns that end in -e, can be masculine or feminine.
These nouns end in -i in the plural, regardless of gender.​​

• (m)    il ristorante (the restaurant) 

                     i ristoranti (the restaurants)

• (f)      la stazione (the station) 

                     le stazioni (the stations)

 There are, of course, exceptions and irregularities. These have to be memorized; however, there are some rules that we can follow.

​SOME RULES/TIPS FOR PLURALS

• The plural of the singular noun l'uomo (man) is gli uomini (men).
• The plural of the singular noun l'uovo (egg) is le uova - it is masculine in the singular, feminine in the plural.
• The feminine noun la mano (hand) is le mani (hands) in the plural.​​​​​​​​​​

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Masculine nouns that end in -a usually have a plural then ends in -i

• il problema / i problemi 

​            problem/ problems

• il panorama / i panorami

​            panorama/ panoramas

• il tema / i temi 

​            theme/ themes

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For nouns that end in accented vowels, in the plural the endings do not change:

• la città / le città

​            city/cities

• la virtù / le virtù 

​            virtue/virtues

• il caffè / i caffè

            coffee/coffees

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For the feminine nouns that end in -o, in the plural the endings do not change.

• la radio / le radio

​            radio/radios

• la foto / le foto

            photo/photos

• la moto / le moto

           motorcycle/motorcycles

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For the feminine nouns that end in -i, in the plural the endings do not change.

• la crisi / le crisi

​            crisis/crises

• l'ipotesi / le ipotesi

​            hypothesis/hypotheses

• l'analisi / le analisi

​            analysis/analyses

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Pratica!

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