Editing Italian grammar (section)

==Inflection of nouns and adjectives==
Nouns have [[grammatical gender|gender]] (masculine, feminine or, in many instances, both) and inflect in [[grammatical number|number]] (singular and plural). When a noun refers to people or animals with natural gender, grammatical gender typically corresponds. The gender each noun is written in is not arbitrary: because most nouns have a masculine ''and'' a feminine form, the form the given noun is written in could change the entire structure of the sentence. As in most other Romance languages, the historical neuter has merged with the masculine. A subgroup of these deriving from Latin's second declension are considered feminine in the plural. Subclauses and infinitives are masculine. Adjectives inflect for gender and number in patterns broadly similar to nouns.

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|+General noun and adjectival endings by number and gender
!Gender
!Singular
!Plural
!Example
|-
|Masculine
|''-o''
|''-i''
|'''''il''' cappell'''o''' ner'''o''', '''i''' cappell'''i''' ner'''i''''' ('the black hat(s)')
|-
|Feminine
|''-a''
|''-e''
|'''''la''' bell'''a''' macchin'''a''', '''le''' bell'''e''' macchin'''e''''' ('the beautiful car(s)')
|-
|Masculine and feminine
|''-e''
|''-i''
|'''''il/la''' comandant'''e''' intelligent'''e''', '''i/le''' comandant'''i''' intelligent'''i''''' ('the smart commander(s)')
|-
|Mixed (historically neuter)
|''-o''
|''-a''
|'''''il''' lenzuol'''o''' legger'''o''', '''le''' lenzuol'''a''' legger'''e''''' ('the light bed sheet(s)')
|-
|Masculine
|''-a''
|''-i''
|'''''l''''atlet'''a''' entusiast'''a''', '''gli''' atlet'''i''' entusiast'''i''''' ('the enthusiastic athlete(s)')
|-
|Feminine
|''-ie''
|''-ie''
|'''''la''' spec'''ie''' estint'''a''', '''le''' spec'''ie''' estint'''e''''' ('the extinct species')
|-
|All nouns ending with a stressed vowel
|rowspan="2" colspan="2" | singular = plural
|'''''la''' citt'''à''', '''le''' citt'''à''''' ('the city(-ies)')
|-
|Non-integrated [[loanword]]s
|'''''il/la''' manager trendy, '''i/le''' manager trendy'' ('the trendy manager(s)')
|}

In the last two examples, only the article carries information about gender and number.

Most masculine words that end in ''-io'' pronounced as {{ipa|/jo/}} drop the ''-o'' and thus end in ''-i'' in the plural: ''vecch'''io''''' / ''vecch'''i''''' ('old'), ''funzionar'''io''''' / ''funzionar'''i''''' ('functionary(-ies)'), ''esemp'''io''''' / ''esemp'''i''''' ('example(s)'), etc.

The Italian [[hard and soft C]] and [[hard and soft G|G]] phenomenon leads to certain peculiarities in spelling and pronunciation:
* Words in ''-cio'' and ''-gio'' form plurals in ''-ci'' and ''-gi'', e.g. ''ba'''cio''''' / ''ba'''ci''''' ('kiss(es)')
* Words in ''-cia'' and ''-gia'' have been a point of contention. According to a commonly employed rule,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/faq/faq_risp.php?id=7875&ctg_id=45 |title=Accademia della Crusca, ''Sul plurale dei nomi in -cia e -gia e su una scelta d'autore'' |access-date=2009-06-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720031241/http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/faq/faq_risp.php?id=7875&ctg_id=45 |archive-date=2011-07-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref> they:
** form plurals in ''-ce'' and ''-ge'' if the final letter before the suffix is a consonant: ''fran'''gia''''', ''fran'''ge''''' ('fringe(s)'); ''fac'''cia''''', ''fac'''ce''''' ('face(s)').
** form plurals in ''-cie'' and ''-gie'' if the final letter before the suffix is a vowel: ''cami'''cia''''', ''cami'''cie''''' ('shirt(s)'); ''cilie'''gia''''', ''cilie'''gie''''' ('cherry'/'cherries'). Note that the presence of an ''i'' in the plural ending has no impact on the pronunciation in this case.<ref>[http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/faq/faq_risp.php?id=3943&ctg_id=44 Accademia della Crusca, ''Plurali difficili'']. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217044724/http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/faq/faq_risp.php?id=3943&ctg_id=44|date=2012-02-17}}.</ref>
** when the ''i'' is stressed, it always remains in plural: ''farma'''cia''''' / ''farma'''cie''''' ('chemist's shop(s)'), ''nevral'''gia''''' / ''nevral'''gie''''' ('neuralgia(s)').
* Words in ''-co'' and ''-go'' behave irregularly: for some words the plural form causes the hard consonant to become soft, and for others the consonant remains hard. "The grammarians are skeptical of any attempt at giving a ruling about this area."<ref name="serianni">{{cite book |last=Serianni |first=Luca |title=Italiano |publisher=Garzanti |year=1997 |isbn=88-11-50470-8 |pages=131–134}}</ref> There are, however, certain rules of thumb:
** plurals are formed with ''-chi'' and ''-ghi'' if the last letter before the suffix is a consonant or a stressed vowel: ''fun'''go''''' / ''fun'''ghi''''' ('mushroom(s)'), ''stec'''co''''' / ''stec'''chi''''' ('stick(s)'), ''ma'''go''''' / ''ma'''ghi''''' ('magician(s)'), ''fuo'''co''''' / ''fuo'''chi''''' ('fire(s)')
** plurals are formed with ''-ci'' and ''-gi'' if the last letter before the suffix is an unstressed vowel: ''comi'''co''''' / ''comi'''ci''''' ('comedian(s)'), ''medi'''co''''' / ''medi'''ci''''' ('physician(s)')
** in words ending with ''-logo'' suffix, the plural is usually<ref name=serianni/> in ''-gi'' when ''-logo'' means 'expert' or 'student', corresponding to English ''-logist'' (e.g. ''archeo'''logo''''' / ''archeo'''logi''''', 'archaeologist(s)'), while it is in ''-ghi'' when it means 'speech' or 'reasoning', corresponding often to English ''-logue/-log'' (e.g. ''cata'''logo''''' / ''cata'''loghi''''', 'catalogue(s)').
** there are exceptions such as ''ami'''co''''' / ''ami'''ci''''' ('friend(s)'), ''gre'''co''''' / ''gre'''ci''''' ('Greek(s)'), ''vali'''co''''' / ''vali'''chi''''' ('mountain pass(es)'), ''cari'''co''''' / ''cari'''chi''''' ('cargo(s)').
* Words in ''-ca'' and ''-ga'' form plurals in ''-che'' and ''-ghe'', e.g. ''ami'''ca''''' / ''ami'''che''''' ('female friend(s)')