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.

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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: