If a noun is plural, its modifiers will be plural:

"i capelli grigi" <gray hairs>.

Quantity in nouns:

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Below are examples of countable nouns. Pay special attention to the expressions of quantity in parentheses. Those listed below are used only with countable nouns.

Expressions of Quantity Countable Nouns

uno (one) studente (student)

ogni (every) libro (book)

ogni (every) stanza (room)

due (two) piante (plants)

entrambi (both) ragazzi (boys)

un paio di (a pair of) scarpe (shoes)

alcuni (some/few) amici (friends)

molti (many) cani (dogs)

pochi (few) pesci (fish)

parecchi (quite a few/a lot) amici (friends)

meno (fewer) vantagi (advantages)

Below are examples of noncountable nouns. The expressions of quantity preceding parentheses are used only with noncountable nouns.

Expressions of Quantity Noncountable Nouns

un po' di (some/a little bit of) caffè (coffee)

molto (a lot of) ghiaccio (ice)

molta (many) gente (people)

Cardinal adjectives -- one, two, several etc. -- are used with noncountable mass nouns (nouns of substance) only in a very restricted context and mean portion:

Vogliamo due caffè per favore. (We want two coffees, please.)

Il cameriere ci ha portato un tè e un caffè. (The waiter brought us one tea and one coffee.)

Noncount nouns:

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refer to things that cannot be counted. In English they do not usually take a definite aritcle, but in Italian they often do.

Whole groups of similar items :

il cibo (food)

la posta (mail)

la roba (stuff)

la spazzatura (garbage)

Fluids:

il caffè (coffee)

il tè (tea)

il latte (milk)

l'olio (oil)

la benzina (gas)

l'aceto (vinegar)

Solids:

il ghiaccio (ice)

il burro (butter)

il formaggio (cheese)

la carne (meat)

il legno (wood)

il sale (salt)

il pane (bread)

Gases:

l'aria (air)

lo smog (smog)

l'ossigeno (oxygen)

Particles:

il riso (rice)

il grano (grain)

la farina (flour)

lo zucchero (sugar)

la sabbia (sand)

Abstract nouns:

la bellezza (beauty)

l'educazione (education)

la salute (health)

l'aiuto (help)

la violenza (violence)

Sports, games, and activities:

il calcio (soccer)

il baseball (baseball)

il football (football)

il poker (poker)

Nature:

il tempo (weather)

la nebbia (fog)

la pioggia (rain)

la neve (snow)

il fuoco (fire)

la luce (light)

il vento (wind) -- but, figuratively, "i quatri venti" = "the Four Winds"

Noun/Adjective Suffixes:

Suffixes modify the meaning of the base word and can be used to form adjectives from nouns and vice versa.

Suffixes can be used to form diminutives, augmentatives, and pejoratives (depreciatives), but they should be coined cautiously: many have preexisting figurative, slang, or sexual meanings.

Many other suffixes form adjectives from nouns and verbs, but most of these adjectives can stand alone as nouns -- the noun they modify can be an unspoken indefinite pronoun: one or some.

Diminutives:

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In English, the diminutive endings -let and -ie (-y) are added to nouns to connote small size or endearment: pig, piglet, piggie. Italian uses the diminutive ending in the same way.

The final vowel of the noun is dropped before adding the diminutive suffix. In the feminine form the -o changes to -a.-ino uccello --> uccellino (little bird)

-icino cuore --> cuoricino (little heart)

-etto giovane --> giovanetto (little young man)

-ello fontana --> fontanella (little fountain)

-olo figlio --> figliolo (little son)

-uccio bocca --> boccuccia (cute, little mouth)

-olino radio --> radiolina (little radio)

-uzza via --> viuzza (little street)

Sometimes diminutives connote a bad quality or contempt.

-uccio casa --> casuccia (small, ugly house)

-etto podere --> poderetto (worthless, little farm)

Some nouns change meaning and gender when a suffix is attached.

-ino camera --> camerino (room --> changing room)

-ino coda --> codino (tail--> pigtail)

Caution: codina (feminine) in some dialects means prostitute and codino (masculine) can be male prostitute if applied to a person.

N.B.: coin diminutives cautiously -- many (including all of the above) have preexisting slang or figurative, including sexual, meanings.

Augmentatives

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Augnentative suffixes are added to a noun to indicate large size or exaggeration of a quality. A common one is -one.-one naso --> nasone (big nose -- or a person who has one)

-one libro --> librone (big book)

Some feminine nouns when the -one suffix is attached change gender.

-one la donna --> la donnone (big woman -- or too masculine or dominating, or a male transvestite)

-one la febbre --> la febbrone (high fever -- or excitement, including sexual)

-one la palla --> la pallone (soccer ball, or possibly male sexual arrousal without release)

-one la stanza --> la stanzone (room large room)

N.B.: coin augmentatives cautiously -- many have preexisting slang or figurative, including sexual, meanings.

Pejorative:

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The following suffixes convey the idea of ugliness or a bad quality:-accio ragazzo --> ragazzaccio (bad boy)

-astro poeta --> poetastro (a terrible poet)

-ucolo maestro --> maestrucolo (bad teacher)

-accione uomo --> omaccione (ugly man)

Other Noun/Adjective Suffixes:-aggine (-ness) stupido --> stupidaggine (foolishness or a foolish act)

-aio (one who uses/makes/

sells/is in charge of) forno --> fornaio (baker)

-anza/enza (makes abstract) vedova --> vedovanza (widowhood), magnifico --> magnificenza (magnificence)

-ata (-ful)

(a blow by means of)

(an action) cucchiai --> cucchiaiata (spoonful)

pugnale --> pugnalata (dagger stab)

cabrare (to zoom): cabrata (zooming or aerobatics)

-ere/ore (one who does) banco --> banchiere (banker), conquista --> conquistatore

-eria (place where) libro --> libreria (bookstore)

-ero (changes noun to adjective) guerra -->guerriero (warlike)

-eto/-eta (grove/orchard) pina --> pineta (pine grove/forest)

-ia (arts or sciences)

(marks abstactions) geologia (geology)

maestro --> maestria (masterliness/mastery)

-iccio (-ish) rosso --> rossicio (reddish one or reddish as an adjective)

-oso (characterized by) rocco --> roccoso (rocky)

-ta' (-ty) fraternita' (fraternity)

-ura bravo --> bravura (something worth of a"bravo")

alto --> altura (heights/highlands)

-uta (adjective-forming) barba --> barbuta (bearded)

CONTRACTIONS:

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The definite articles form CONTRACTIONS ("contrazioni") with the prepositions

"a" <to, at, in>,

"di" <of, from, by, about>,

"da" <of, by, from, with>,

"in" <in, to>,

"su" <on>, and

"con" <with>: ARTICLE

PREPOSITION IL LO L' LA I GLI LE

A AL ALLO ALL' ALLA AI AGLI ALLE

DI DEL DELLO DELL' DELLA DEI DEGLI DELLE

DA DAL DALLO DALL' DALLA DAI DAGLI DALLE