8.

6 Plural Nouns
Hello and welcome back for Part 8.6 of the Rocket Italian Premium Plus Language and Culture series.

Youve already completed Rocket Italian Premium, and now you want to learn more about the Italian Language? Well, youre in the
right place!

These lessons are designed in a similar format to those you have already completed. In each one, you can expect to find a detailed
explanation of a new grammatical concept, with plenty of examples. Youll also come across a culture section in each lesson, designed
to equip you with some local knowledge about Italy.

Todays focus is plural nouns. In Rocket Italian Premium, you learned a host of new Italian nouns. Most of these nouns were singular.
For instance: cat , bike, television . But what about when you want to refer to more than one of these items?Cats, bikes, televisions ...
These are plural nouns.

Plural Nouns
Learning the plural of Italian nouns is very easy! Sometimes the noun does not even need to change in order to become plural, and
other times there is a small change.

When the noun doesn't change...

Just like in English, some nouns are already in their plural form :

i pantaloni
the trousers

le forbici
the scissors

gli occhiali
the spectacles

le posate
the cutlery

le nozze
the wedding

le stoviglie
the dishes

i dintorni
the surroundings
 Gli occhiali - Spectacles
Some nouns simply don't change, whether you are referring to one (singular) or many (plural) only the article in front must change!
For example:

la moto / le moto
the bike / the bikes

la radio / le radio
the radio / the radios

la foto / le foto
the picture / the pictures

l'auto / le auto
the car / the cars

la bici / le bici
the bicycle / the bicycles

l'autobus / gli autobus

the bus / the buses

il t / i t
the tea/ the teas

la serie / le serie
the series / the series
Nouns that finish with an accented vowel do not change:
Il t (singular) i t (plural)

nor do nouns that end with -i:

L'analisi (singular) le analisi (plural)

nor do nouns that end with -ie:

La serie (singular) le serie (plural):

Fantastico! (Fantastic) Isn't it?

Noun ending in -ca/-co or -ga/-go

Nouns ending in -ca/-co or -ga/-go, they form the plural replacing the ending with -che/-chi or -ghe/-ghi.
Per esempio:
L'amica
Girlfriend

Le amiche
Girlfriends

Il parco
Park

I parchi
Parks

Il collega
Colleague

I colleghi
Colleagues

Il lago
Lake

I laghi
Lakes

La giacca
Jacket

Le giacche
Jackets

Il parco - The park

Masculine nouns ending in -io

Simply swap io with -ii or simply -i. Per esempio:

Lo zio
Uncle

Gli zii
Uncles

Il ronzio
Buzz

I ronzii
Buzzes
Feminine nouns ending in -cia and -gia
Feminine nouns ending in -cia and -gia usually swap -ia in -e. Per esempio:

La doccia
Shower

Le docce
Showers

La pioggia
Rain

Le piogge
Rains

Nouns that require a change to become plural, masculine and feminine.

The general rule is:

If the masculine singular noun ends with -o, -a, -e change the last letter for an i

If the feminine singular noun ends with -e change the last letter for an i

If the feminine singular noun ends with -a change the last letter for an e

Here are some esempi ( examples):

il divano / i divani
the couch / the couches

il ciclista / i ciclisti
the cyclist / the cyclists

il motore / i motori
the motor / the motors

il fiore / i fiori
the flower / the flowers

il ristorante / i ristoranti
the restaurant / the restaurants

l (la) estate / le estati

the summer / the summers

la statua / le statue
the statue/statues

la camera / le camere
the room / the rooms

la conchiglia / le conchiglie
the shell / the shells

la casa / le case
the house / the houses

la donna / le donne
the woman / the women

la giacca / le giacche
the jacket / the jackets
Not difficult at all! Now well review the conversation Maria and Roberto had about their weekend activities. She told him that she had
a couple of days off by the seaside: let's take a look at singular and plural nouns in this conversation.

Ho passato un giorno di vacanza al mare.

I spent a day of holiday by the seaside.

Ho passato un paio di giorni di vacanza al mare.

I spent a couple of days of holiday by the seaside.
As you can see il giorno (day) becomes i giorni (days).

La spiaggia - The beach

Vocabulary

Le ferie
the holidays

Il prossimo fine settimana

next weekend

Il mare
the sea/seaside

La montagna
the mountains

Al lago
at the lake

In campagna
to the countryside

Gli ombrelloni
the beach umbrellas

Le sedie a sdraio
the deck chairs

Prendere il sole
to sunbathe

La maschera
the mask

Nuotare
to swim
Dormire
to sleep

Pescare
to fish

Il boccaglio
the snorkel

L'alpinismo
climbing

Fare trekking
to do trekking

Una scampagnata
a trip to the countryside

Il giorno di riposo
the day off

Prendere ferie
to take holidays

Fare una grigliata

to do a barbecue

Un giro in bicicletta
a ride by bike

Un fine settimana romantico

a romantic weekend

Il giardinaggio
the gardening

La lettura
the reading

Mare o Montagna?

In Italy weekends are sacri, sacred! Most Italians are very busy working during the week, so the weekend is a special time to relax.

In winter more time is devoted to family bonding - often over sumptuous Italian cuisine! Winter also signals the arrival of the soccer
season, and Italians love their soccer! Fanatical supporters of the game can be found at the stadium on every Sunday. Summer time is
all about escaping to the beach for a day of sunbathing, or perhaps to the mountains for a walk, and a visit to the local restaurant.

Family Time
No matter what the weather, there's always a park for a picnic, some shopping to do, or a caf to slowly sip an aperitivo (a drink
before dinner)! Of course being in such close proximity to the rest of Europe, when Italians want a little more adventure they can
easily pop over to visit one of the many beautiful neighbouring countries!
Eccoci! That's all for first lesson. Next time you can look forward to improving your vocabulary with the use of partitive articles.

Ci vediamo. See you next time!

Maria DiLorenzi
Rocket Italian

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