Adjectives of Nationality

Level 1

Italian nationality adjectives (like italiano or francese) describe where someone or something is from. They are generally written in lowercase and change their endings to match the gender and number of the noun.

How It Works

Adjectives of nationality in Italian serve three roles: they are adjectives (un vino italiano), nouns for people (un italiano), and names of languages (l'italiano). Unlike English, they are generally lowercase. Language names are always masculine (il francese).

1. The Four-Form Pattern (-o)
These follow the standard gender patterns. This group includes suffixes like -ano (americano) and -ino (marocchino):

Masculine: -o / -i (italiano/italiani)
Feminine: -a / -e (italiana/italiane)

2. The Two-Form Pattern (-ese / -ense)
These follow the pattern for nouns/adjectives ending in -e:

Singular (M/F): -e (francese, statunitense)
Plural (M/F): -i (francesi, statunitensi)

3. The Invariable Singular Pattern (-a)
Some nationalities (like belga or vietnamita) end in -a for both genders in the singular:

Singular (M/F): -a (belga)
Masculine Plural: -i (belgi)
Feminine Plural: -e (belghe - note the 'h')

4. Spelling Adjustments (-co)
Adjectives ending in -co follow specific plural rules based on word stress:

If the stress is on the second-to-last syllable, the plural is -chi: tedésco → tedeschi.
If the stress is on the third-to-last syllable, the plural is -ci: austríaco → austriaci.
Exception: greco (Greek) becomes greci in the masculine plural despite the stress, but greche in the feminine.

5. Placement
Following the rules of adjective position, these almost always follow the noun: una pizza italiana.

Examples (6)

Marco è un ragazzo italiano.
Marco is an Italian boy.
Word by Word: Marco is a boy Italian.
The adjective 'italiano' is masculine singular to match 'ragazzo'.
Giulia e Maria sono canadesi.
Giulia and Maria are Canadian.
Word by Word: Giulia and Maria are Canadians.
Adjectives ending in -ese (like canadese) change to -i in the plural for both genders.
Lui è belga e lei è belga.
He is Belgian and she is Belgian.
Word by Word: He is Belgian and she is Belgian.
Adjectives ending in -a (like belga) have the same form for both masculine and feminine singular.
Mi piacciono le macchine tedesche.
I like German cars.
Word by Word: To me please the cars German.
The 'h' is added in 'tedesche' to maintain the hard 'k' sound of the root 'tedesco'.
Loro parlano spagnolo.
They speak Spanish.
Word by Word: They speak Spanish.
When referring to a language, the nationality adjective is always masculine singular.
I turisti austriaci visitano Roma.
Austrian tourists visit Rome.
Word by Word: The tourists Austrian visit Rome.
For 'austriaco', the stress is on the third-to-last syllable, so the masculine plural ends in -ci.

Common Mistakes

Capitalizing the adjective like in English.
Lui è Italiano.
Lui è italiano.
In Italian, adjectives of nationality and language names are written in lowercase. While nouns referring to people can sometimes be capitalized for emphasis or to denote a collective national identity, lowercase is the standard for everyday use.
Using the wrong ending for -ese adjectives.
Una ragazza francesca.
Una ragazza francese.
Adjectives ending in -ese do not change to -a for feminine; they stay -e in the singular for both genders.
Confusing the country name with the adjective.
Io sono Italia.
Io sono italiano.
'Italia' is the noun for the country. To describe your nationality, you must use the adjective 'italiano'.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Adjectives of NationalityLevel 1

Learn This First

To understand nationality adjectives, you need to know how Italian nouns and adjectives change their endings based on gender and number, specifically the -o/-a and -e patterns.

Adjective Agreement
Nationality adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify, which is the fundamental rule for all Italian adjectives.
Level 1

Sources

Practice Adjectives of Nationality in Bubblegum

Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Italian lessons at your level. Tap any grammar point in a lesson to see its full explanation.