Making Nouns Plural

Once you know a noun's gender, the next step is learning how to make it plural. Italian pluralisation follows a distinctive system: instead of simply adding -s like English, Italian changes the final vowel of the word.

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The Core System: Changing the Final Vowel

Italian plurals work by changing the ending of the noun. The change depends on the noun's gender and its singular ending.

The Three Main Patterns

Gender	Singular Ending	Plural Ending	Example
Masculine	-o	-i	il libro → i libri (the books)
Feminine	-a	-e	la casa → le case (the houses)
Masc. or Fem.	-e	-i	il fiore → i fiori (the flowers)

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Pattern 1: Masculine -o → -i

This is the most common pattern. Simply change the final -o to -i.

Singular	Plural	Meaning
il libro	i libri	the book(s)
il ragazzo	i ragazzi	the boy(s)
il gatto	i gatti	the cat(s)
il tavolo	i tavoli	the table(s)
il museo	i musei	the museum(s)
il giorno	i giorni	the day(s)
il vino	i vini	the wine(s)
il panino	i panini	the sandwich(es)

Fun fact: English speakers often say "paninis" — but panini is already plural in Italian! The singular is panino.

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Pattern 2: Feminine -a → -e

Change the final -a to -e.

Singular	Plural	Meaning
la casa	le case	the house(s)
la ragazza	le ragazze	the girl(s)
la porta	le porte	the door(s)
la scuola	le scuole	the school(s)
la strada	le strade	the road(s)
la pizza	le pizze	the pizza(s)
la donna	le donne	the woman/women
la penna	le penne	the pen(s)

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Pattern 3: Nouns Ending in -e → -i

Both masculine and feminine nouns ending in -e change to -i in the plural.

Singular	Plural	Meaning
il ristorante	i ristoranti	the restaurant(s)
il giornale	i giornali	the newspaper(s)
la chiave	le chiavi	the key(s)
la canzone	le canzoni	the song(s)
il pesce	i pesci	the fish (plural)
la lezione	le lezioni	the lesson(s)
il fiore	i fiori	the flower(s)
la notte	le notti	the night(s)

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Special Cases: Spelling Changes

Some nouns require spelling adjustments in the plural to preserve the correct pronunciation.

Nouns Ending in -co and -go

These nouns may add an h in the plural to keep the hard /k/ or /g/ sound.

General Pattern

Singular	Plural	Sound Preserved
il parco	i parchi	hard /k/
il lago	i laghi	hard /g/
il fuoco	i fuochi	hard /k/
il fungo	i funghi	hard /g/
il tedesco	i tedeschi	hard /k/

Exceptions (No h)

Singular	Plural	Note
l'amico	gli amici	Soft /tch/ sound
il medico	i medici	Soft /tch/ sound
il nemico	i nemici	Soft /tch/ sound
il greco	i greci	Soft /tch/ sound

Tip: Words stressed on the third-to-last syllable (like me-di-co, ne-mi-co) tend to take -ci (without h). Words stressed on the second-to-last syllable (like par-co, la-go) tend to take -chi / -ghi (with h). This is a tendency, not an absolute rule.

Nouns Ending in -ca and -ga (Feminine)

Feminine nouns ending in -ca and -ga always add h to keep the hard sound.

Singular	Plural	Meaning
l'amica	le amiche	the friend(s) (fem.)
la banca	le banche	the bank(s)
la collega	le colleghe	the colleague(s) (fem.)
la bottega	le botteghe	the shop(s)

Nouns Ending in -cia and -gia

The plural depends on whether the i is stressed or not.