NOTES
(by DuoItalian)

Adjectives (aggettivi) are words that describe a noun. Unlike the English language, Italian adjectives most often follow the noun.

  • È una lingua difficile. (It is a difficult language.)
  • Marina è una ragazza generosa. (Marina is a generous girl.)

However, there are some common adjectives that generally come before the noun.

  • Anna è una cara amica. (Anna is a dear friend.)
  • Gino è un bravo dottore. (Gino is a good doctor.)
  • È un brutt’affare. (It’s a bad situation.)

The most common adjectives that come before the noun in Italian are listed below:

 bello beautiful grande large, great
 bravo good, clever lungo long
 brutto ugly nuovo new
 buono good, well piccolo small, little
 caro dear, cute stesso same
 cattivo bad vecchio old
 giovane young vero true


But even these adjectives must follow the noun for emphasis or contrast, and when modified by an adverb.

  • Oggi non porta l’abito vecchio, porta un abito nuovo. (Today he is not wearing the old suit, he is wearing a new suit.)
  • Abitano in una casa molto piccola. (They live in a very small house.)

TIP: There are many similar adjectives in Italian for the English “short” that have varying meanings.

  • When referring to height, a person or object is either alto (tall) or basso (short).
  • The adjective breve is used when discussing a (short) length of time.
  • Things, body parts, and everything else is either lungo (long) or corto (short).

VIDEO
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VOCABULARY
(from Duolingo)
nuovonew
vecchioold
stessosame
diversodifferent
possibilepossible
impossibileimpossible
bellobeautiful, pretty
buonogood, well
bravogood, clever
altotall, high
bassoshort (height), low
internazionaleinternational
nazionalenational
stranieroforeigner, stranger
caroexpensive, dear
economicocheap
gratuitofree (item)
liberofree (person)
riccorich
famosofamous
popolarepopular
importanteimportant
utileuseful
modernomodern
quotidianodaily
elettricoelectrical
chiusoclosed
interessanteinteresting
unicounique, only
specialespecial
perfettoperfect
capacecapable
fortestrong
stranostrange
pesanteheavy
pericolosodangerous
grossobig, thick
soloalone, only
difficiledifficult
grassofat
durotough, hard
interoentire, whole
lungolong
cortoshort (length)
pienofull
prossimonext
facileeasy
sicurosure
comunecommon
normalenormal
verotrue
giustojust, right, fair
certocertain
prontoready
giovaneyoung
chiaroclear
caldohot
freddocold
breveshort (time)

 

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