The plural lives in the last vowel
Unlike English, Italian never adds an -s to make a plural. Instead, the final vowel of the noun changes, and the article changes with it: il becomes i, la becomes le.
The three patterns in examples
-o → -i
il ragazzo → i ragazzi
the boy → the boys
il libro → i libri
the book → the books
il treno → i treni
the train → the trains
-a → -e
la ragazza → le ragazze
the girl → the girls
la casa → le case
the house → the houses
la penna → le penne
the pen → the pens
Nouns in -e are sometimes masculine, sometimes feminine, but both take -i in the plural. Only the article shows the gender: i padri, le madri.
-e → -i
il padre → i padri
the father → the fathers
masculine
la madre → le madri
the mother → the mothers
feminine
la chiave → le chiavi
the key → the keys
feminine
In a sentence
I treni arrivano in ritardo.
The trains arrive late.
Le case sono bianche.
The houses are white.
Le chiavi sono sul tavolo.
The keys are on the table.
Words where ending and gender don't match
Masculine nouns in -a and feminine nouns in -o take -i in the plural.
il problema → i problemi
the problem → the problems
il programma → i programmi
the program → the programs
la mano → le mani
the hand → the hands
Adding an h: -ca, -ga, -co, -go
Before e and i, c and g are soft (like cheese and gem). To keep the hard sound of -ca, -ga, -co, -go in the plural, an h slips in.
Feminine nouns in -ca and -ga always take it: -che, -ghe.
Feminine: -ca → -che, -ga → -ghe
l'amica → le amiche
the (female) friend → the friends
la banca → le banche
the bank → the banks
la riga → le righe
the line → the lines
Masculine nouns in -co and -go mostly keep the hard sound too: -chi, -ghi. A few very common words go the other way and take -ci. Learn those one by one.
Masculine: -co → -chi, -go → -ghi
il cuoco → i cuochi
the cook → the cooks
l'albergo → gli alberghi
the hotel → the hotels
l'amico → gli amici
the (male) friend → the friends
exception, no h
il medico → i medici
the doctor → the doctors
exception, no h
Nouns that don't change
Some nouns look the same in the singular and the plural. Only the article or a number word shows which one you mean.
Words with an accent on the last vowel: la città, il caffè
Words ending in a consonant and shortened words: il bar, il film, l'autobus, la foto
Visito le città italiane.
I'm visiting the Italian cities.
Prendiamo due caffè.
We'll have two coffees.
Guardiamo due film.
We're watching two films.
