Adjective Placement

In English, adjectives almost always come before the noun: "a tall building," "a red car." In Italian, the default position is the opposite — most adjectives come after the noun. However, a group of very common adjectives regularly appear before the noun, and some adjectives change meaning depending on their position.

---

The Default Rule: After the Noun

The vast majority of Italian adjectives are placed after the noun they describe:

Italian	English
una macchina rossa	a red car
un ragazzo intelligente	an intelligent boy
una città italiana	an Italian city
un problema difficile	a difficult problem
una persona onesta	an honest person
un film interessante	an interesting film

Categories of adjectives that almost always follow the noun:

Category	Examples
Colours	rosso, blu, verde, nero, bianco
Nationalities	italiano, francese, inglese, tedesco
Shapes	rotondo, quadrato, triangolare
Materials	metallico, di legno, di vetro
Technical/scientific	elettrico, chimico, digitale
Religion/politics	cattolico, democratico, liberale
Past participles used as adjectives	rotto (broken), chiuso (closed), aperto (open)

Tip: If you are ever unsure where to place an adjective, put it after the noun. You will be correct most of the time.

---

Common Adjectives That Go Before the Noun

A small group of very common, short adjectives typically go before the noun. These are among the most frequently used adjectives in Italian:

Adjective	Meaning	Example
bello	beautiful	una bella giornata (a beautiful day)
brutto	ugly/bad	un brutto tempo (bad weather)
buono	good	un buon libro (a good book)
cattivo	bad	una cattiva idea (a bad idea)
grande	big/great	un grande uomo (a great man)
piccolo	small/little	una piccola casa (a small house)
giovane	young	un giovane artista (a young artist)
vecchio	old	un vecchio amico (an old friend)
nuovo	new	una nuova macchina (a new car)
lungo	long	una lunga storia (a long story)
breve	short/brief	un breve discorso (a brief speech)
primo	first	il primo giorno (the first day)
ultimo	last	l'ultimo treno (the last train)
altro	other	un altro caffè (another coffee)

Tip: These adjectives tend to express basic, subjective qualities — beauty, size, age, goodness — rather than specific, objective, classifying properties.

---

Adjectives That Change Meaning with Position

This is one of the most fascinating aspects of Italian adjective placement. Several adjectives have different meanings depending on whether they come before or after the noun: