Editing Italian language (section)

== Grammar ==
{{Main|Italian grammar}}
{{See also|Italian verbs}}
Italian [[grammar]] is typical of the grammar of [[Romance languages]] in general. [[Grammatical case|Cases]] exist for personal pronouns ([[Nominative case|nominative]], [[Oblique case|oblique]], [[Accusative case|accusative]], [[Dative case|dative]]), but not for nouns.

There are two basic classes of nouns in Italian, referred to as [[Grammatical gender|genders]], masculine and feminine. Gender may be [[Natural gender|natural]] (''ragazzo'' 'boy', ''ragazza'' 'girl') or simply grammatical with no possible reference to biological gender (masculine ''costo'' 'cost', feminine ''costa'' 'coast'). Masculine nouns typically end in ''-o'' (''ragazzo'' 'boy'), with plural marked by ''-i'' (''ragazzi'' 'boys'), and feminine nouns typically end in ''-a'', with plural marked by ''-e'' (''ragazza'' 'girl', ''ragazze'' 'girls'). For a group composed of boys and girls, ''ragazzi'' is the plural, suggesting that ''-i'' is a general neutral plural. A third category of nouns is [[Marker (linguistics)|unmarked]] for gender, ending in ''-e'' in the singular and ''-i'' in the plural: ''legge'' 'law, f. sg.', ''leggi'' 'laws, f. pl.'; ''fiume'' 'river, m. sg.', ''fiumi'' 'rivers, m. pl.', thus assignment of gender is arbitrary in terms of form, enough so that terms may be identical but of distinct genders: ''fine'' meaning 'aim', 'purpose' is masculine, while ''fine'' meaning 'end, ending' (e.g. of a movie) is feminine, and both are ''fini'' in the plural, a clear instance of ''-i'' as a non-gendered default plural marker. These nouns often, but not always, denote [[Animacy|inanimates]]. There are a number of nouns that have a masculine singular and a feminine plural, most commonly of the pattern m. sg. ''-o'', f. pl. ''-a'' (''miglio'' 'mile, m. sg.', ''miglia'' 'miles, f. pl.'; ''paio'' 'pair, m. sg.', ''paia'' 'pairs, f. pl.'), and thus are sometimes considered neuter (these are usually derived from [[Grammatical gender|neuter]] Latin nouns). An instance of neuter gender also exists in pronouns of the third person singular.{{sfn|Simone|2010}}

Examples:<ref name=":6" />
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Definition
!Gender
!Singular Form
!Plural Form
|-
|Son
|Masculine
|Figlio
|Figli
|-
|House
|Feminine
|Casa
|Case
|-
|Love
|Masculine
|Amore
|Amori
|-
|Art
|Feminine
|Arte
|Arti
|}
Nouns, adjectives, and articles [[Inflection|inflect]] for gender and number (singular and plural).

Like in English, common nouns are capitalized when occurring at the beginning of a sentence. Unlike English, nouns referring to languages (e.g. Italian) and adjectives pertaining to ethnicity are never capitalized, while speakers of languages, or inhabitants of an area (e.g. Italians) used to always be capitalized, but, starting from the 19th century, this convention has been subject to various changes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=etnici, maiuscole negli [prontuario] - Enciclopedia |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/maiuscole-negli-prontuario-etnici_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Treccani |language=it}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

There are three types of [[adjective]]s: descriptive, invariable and form-changing. Descriptive adjectives are the most common, and their endings change to match the number and gender of the noun they modify. Invariable adjectives are adjectives whose endings do not change. The form-changing adjectives ''buono'' 'good', ''bello'' 'beautiful', ''grande'' 'big', and ''santo'' 'saint/holy' change in form when placed before different types of nouns. Italian has three degrees for comparison of adjectives: positive, comparative, and superlative.<ref name=":5" />

The order of words in the phrase is relatively free compared to most European languages.<ref name="Clivio" /> The position of the verb in the phrase is highly mobile. Word order often has a lesser grammatical function in Italian than in English. Adjectives are sometimes placed before their noun and sometimes after. Subject nouns generally come before the verb. Italian is a [[null-subject language]], so nominative pronouns are usually absent, with subject indicated by verbal [[inflection]]s (e.g. ''amo'' 'I love', ''ama'' '(s)he loves', ''amano'' 'they love'). Noun objects normally come after the verb, as do pronoun objects after imperative verbs, infinitives and gerunds, but otherwise, pronoun objects come before the verb.

There are both indefinite and definite [[Article (grammar)|articles]] in Italian. There are four indefinite articles, selected by the gender of the noun they modify and by the phonological structure of the word that immediately follows the article. ''Uno'' is masculine singular, used before ''z'' ({{IPA|/ts/}} or {{IPA|/dz/}}), ''s+consonant'', ''gn'' ({{IPA|/ɲ/}}), ''pn'' or ''ps'', while masculine singular ''un'' is used before a word beginning with any other sound. The noun ''zio'' 'uncle' selects masculine singular, thus ''uno zio'' 'an uncle' or ''uno zio anziano'' 'an old uncle,' but ''un mio zio'' 'an uncle of mine'. The feminine singular indefinite articles are ''una'', used before any consonant sound, and its abbreviated form, written ''un','' used before vowels: ''una camicia'' 'a shirt', ''una camicia bianca'' 'a white shirt', ''un'altra camicia'' 'a different shirt'. There are seven forms for definite articles, both singular and plural. In the singular: ''lo'', which corresponds to the uses of ''uno''; ''il'', which corresponds to the uses with the consonant of ''un''; ''la,'' which corresponds to the uses of ''una''; ''l','' used for both masculine and feminine singular before vowels. In the plural: ''gli'' is the masculine plural of ''lo and l<nowiki>'</nowiki>''; ''i'' is the plural of ''il''; and ''le'' is the plural of feminine ''la'' and ''l''<nowiki/>'.<ref name=":5" />

There are numerous [[Contraction (grammar)|contractions]] of [[preposition]]s with subsequent [[Article (grammar)|articles]]. There are numerous productive [[suffix]]es for [[Italian diminutive|diminutive]], [[Augmentative#Italian|augmentative]], pejorative, attenuating, etc., which are also used to create [[neologism]]s.

There are 27 pronouns, grouped in [[clitic]] and tonic pronouns. Personal pronouns are separated into three groups: subject, object (which takes the place of both direct and indirect objects), and reflexive. Second-person subject pronouns have both a polite and a familiar form. These two different types of addresses are very important in Italian social distinctions. All object pronouns have two forms: stressed and unstressed (clitics). Unstressed object pronouns are much more frequently used, and come before a verb conjugated for subject-verb (''la vedi'': 'you see her'), after (in writing, attached to) non-conjugated verbs (''vedendola'': 'seeing her'). Stressed object pronouns come after the verb, and are used when the emphasis is required, for contrast, or to avoid ambiguity (''vedo lui, ma non lei'': 'I see him, but not her'). Aside from personal pronouns, Italian also has demonstrative, interrogative, possessive, and relative pronouns. There are two types of demonstrative pronouns: relatively near (this) and relatively far (that); there exists a third type of demonstrative denoting vicinity only to the listener, but it has fallen out of use. Demonstratives in Italian are repeated before each noun, unlike in English.<ref name=":5" />

There are three regular sets of verbal [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugations]], and various verbs are irregularly conjugated. Within each of these sets of conjugations, there are four simple (one-word) verbal conjugations by person/number in the [[indicative mood]] ([[present tense]]; [[past tense]] with [[imperfective aspect]], past tense with [[perfective aspect]], and [[future tense]]), two simple conjugations in the [[subjunctive mood]] (present tense and past tense), one simple conjugation in the [[conditional mood]], and one simple conjugation in the [[imperative mood]]. Corresponding to each of the simple conjugations, there is a compound conjugation involving a simple conjugation of "to be" or "to have" followed by a [[past participle]]. "To have" is used to form compound conjugation when the verb is transitive (''ha detto, ha fatto'': 'he/she has said, he/she has made/done'), while "to be" is used in the case of verbs of motion and some other intransitive verbs (''è andato, è stato'': 'he has gone, he has been'). "To be" may be used with transitive verbs, but in such a case it makes the verb passive (''è detto, è fatto'': 'it is said, it is made/done'). This rule is not absolute, and some exceptions do exist.