Basic Italian: A Grammar and Workbook

19 Note that, in Italian, the masculine form of a noun is also used when the
gender is not important. A noun in the plural may therefore designate any
one of three different sets of people:

Spelling

Care is needed in spelling some plurals.

20 Nouns ending in -ca or -ga always add h (-che or -ghe), in order to keep
the hard sound of c and g in the plural. We saw the example of il/la collega in
paragraph 15. Here are some more:

21 Nouns ending in -co and -go normally add h (-chi or -ghi) and keep the
hard sound, but some nouns change the sound of c and g in the plural (-ci or
-gi). It is always best to check in a dictionary:

gli amici

gli insegnanti

i colleghi

either a specific set of male friends [as in ‘Your friends

(Luigi and Giovanni) have arrived.’]

or a specific mixed set of male and female friends [as in

‘Your friends (Luigi and Anna) have arrived.’]

or friends in general [whether male and female does not

matter, as in ‘Everybody needs friends.’]

either a specific set of male teachers

or a specific mixed set of male and female teachers

or teachers in general [regardless of gender]

either a specific set of male colleagues

or a specific mixed set of male and female colleagues

or colleagues in general [regardless of gender]

Singular

l’amica [f]

la tasca [f]

la riga [f]

(female) friend

pocket

line, ruler

Plural

le amiche

le tasche

le righe

(female) friends

pockets

lines, rulers

Singular

il bosco [m]

il gioco [m]

il parco [m]

il lago [m]

l’amico [m]

il medico [m]

il biologo [m]

wood

game

park

lake

(male) friend

doctor

biologist

Plural

i boschi

i giochi

i parchi

i laghi

gli amici

i medici

i biologi

woods

games

parks

lakes

(male) friends

doctors

biologists