Plurals in Italian are mostly regular, but the exceptions come up often enough that practice pays off. This page gives you a short recap of the rules, then five exercises that move from simple endings to tricky cases, with an answer key at the end. Try each exercise before looking at the answers.
Quick recap of Italian plural rules
Italian nouns change their final vowel to form the plural, and the article changes too.
| Singular ending | Plural ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -o (masculine) | -i | libro, libri (book, books) |
| -a (feminine) | -e | casa, case (house, houses) |
| -e (either gender) | -i | nome, nomi (name, names); notte, notti (night, nights) |
| -a (masculine, many from Greek) | -i | problema, problemi (problem, problems) |
| -ista (either gender) | -isti (masculine) / -iste (feminine) | turista, turisti / turiste |
Articles change as well:
- il → i: il libro, i libri
- lo → gli: lo zaino, gli zaini
- l’ (masculine) → gli: l’amico, gli amici
- la → le: la casa, le case
- l’ (feminine) → le: l’isola, le isole
Exceptions to check before you start
Words ending in -co and -go. Many keep the hard sound by adding an h: parco, parchi (parks), lago, laghi (lakes). Others, especially some words that are stressed on the third-to-last syllable, change to -ci or -gi: medico, medici (doctors). Amico becomes amici even though the rule above might suggest otherwise. When unsure, check a dictionary.
Feminine words ending in -ca and -ga. These add an h: amica, amiche; riga, righe (lines).
Words ending in -cia and -gia. If a consonant comes before the ending, the i usually drops: arancia, arance (oranges); pioggia, piogge (rain showers). If a vowel comes before it, or the i is stressed, the i usually stays: camicia, camicie (shirts); valigia, valigie (suitcases).
Words ending in -io. If the i is unstressed, there is usually a single -i: figlio, figli; negozio, negozi (shops). If the i is stressed, it is doubled: zio, zii (uncles).
Words that do not change. Words with a stressed final vowel (città, caffè, università), many short or shortened words (foto, auto, cinema), words borrowed from other languages (film, bar, sport) and some words ending in -i (crisi) stay the same. Only the article shows the number: il film, i film.
Irregular plurals. Uomo becomes uomini. A few masculine nouns have a feminine plural in -a: uovo, uova (eggs); dito, dita (fingers); braccio, braccia (arms). Mano (hand) is feminine and its plural is mani.
Exercise 1: regular endings
Write the plural of each noun.
- libro
- casa
- nome
- gatto
- penna
- fiore
- treno
- chiave
- notte
- finestra
- sedia
- mese
Exercise 2: plural with articles
Write the plural with the correct article. Remember that lo and l’ (masculine) become gli.
- il bambino
- la ragazza
- lo studente
- l’amico
- la studentessa
- lo zaino
- l’albero
- l’isola
- lo sbaglio
Exercise 3: tricky endings
Write the plural of each word.
- amico
- amica
- lago
- parco
- medico
- banca
- riga
- arancia
- camicia
- pioggia
- valigia
- bacio
- figlio
- zio
- negozio
Exercise 4: irregular and invariable nouns
Write the plural. If the word does not change, write it again.
- uomo
- uovo
- dito
- braccio
- mano
- città
- caffè
- film
- crisi
- auto
- sport
- foto
- bar
- problema
- re (king)
Exercise 5: sentences
Rewrite each sentence in the plural. Change the articles, nouns, verbs and adjectives as needed.
- Il bambino mangia la mela. (The child eats the apple.)
- L’amica compra una camicia. (The friend buys a shirt.)
- Il medico ha un’amica. (The doctor has a friend.)
- Lo studente legge il libro. (The student reads the book.)
- La città è bella. (The city is beautiful.)
- L’uomo ha un figlio. (The man has a son.)
- Il turista porta una valigia. (The tourist carries a suitcase.)
- Il film è interessante. (The film is interesting.)
For items with una / un’, use delle (feminine) or dei (masculine) for “some” in the plural.
Answer key
Exercise 1: 1. libri, 2. case, 3. nomi, 4. gatti, 5. penne, 6. fiori, 7. treni, 8. chiavi, 9. notti, 10. finestre, 11. sedie, 12. mesi.
Exercise 2: 1. i bambini, 2. le ragazze, 3. gli studenti, 4. gli amici, 5. le studentesse, 6. gli zaini, 7. gli alberi, 8. le isole, 9. gli sbagli.
Exercise 3: 1. amici, 2. amiche, 3. laghi, 4. parchi, 5. medici, 6. banche, 7. righe, 8. arance, 9. camicie, 10. piogge, 11. valigie, 12. baci, 13. figli, 14. zii, 15. negozi.
Exercise 4: 1. uomini, 2. uova, 3. dita, 4. braccia, 5. mani, 6. città, 7. caffè, 8. film, 9. crisi, 10. auto, 11. sport, 12. foto, 13. bar, 14. problemi, 15. re.
Exercise 5:
- I bambini mangiano le mele. (The children eat the apples.)
- Le amiche comprano delle camicie. (The friends buy some shirts.)
- I medici hanno delle amiche. (The doctors have some friends.)
- Gli studenti leggono i libri. (The students read the books.)
- Le città sono belle. (The cities are beautiful.)
- Gli uomini hanno dei figli. (The men have some sons.)
- I turisti portano delle valigie. (The tourists carry some suitcases.)
- I film sono interessanti. (The films are interesting.)
Common mistakes
- Forgetting the h. Writing amice or lagi instead of amiche and laghi changes the pronunciation.
- Changing invariable words. Words like città, caffè and film do not take a new ending.
- Mixing up the articles. The plural of lo and masculine l’ is gli, not i.
- Treating uova and dita as masculine. They take feminine articles and agreement in the plural: le uova fresche (fresh eggs).
- Forgetting that adjectives agree. Una casa bella becomes delle case belle.
Keep practicing
Learn the exceptions as you meet them, in context: write each new noun with its article and its plural in your vocabulary list. Once plurals feel comfortable, you can mix them into other activities from our Italian grammar activities, or use them while building everyday sentences from the basic Italian phrases list.