Ho una bella casa grande e un gatto nero.I have a lovely big house and a black cat.

In Italian, most adjectives come after the noun: un gatto nero, una ragazza simpatica. A small group of very common adjectives, such as bello and buono, often comes before it: una bella casa, un buon amico.

Quick shortcut: put the adjective after the noun (una macchina rossa). Colours and nationalities normally go after. A short list of common adjectives (bello, brutto, buono, cattivo, grande, piccolo, giovane, vecchio, nuovo) can go before, and bello and buono change their form when they do.

The default: after the noun

Most descriptive adjectives follow the noun:

  • un libro interessante (an interesting book)
  • una ragazza simpatica (a nice girl)
  • una lezione difficile (a difficult lesson)

Two groups normally go after the noun (before the noun they sound literary or poetic):

  • Colours: una macchina rossa (a red car), un gatto nero, una borsa blu
  • Nationalities: un ragazzo italiano, un'amica francese, un professore inglese

The adjective agrees with the noun in gender and number wherever it stands (see Adjective agreement). After essere it simply follows the verb: La casa è bella.

A short list that often goes before

A small group of common adjectives often comes before the noun, especially when they simply describe the noun rather than pick it out from others:

bello (beautiful), brutto (ugly), buono (good), cattivo (bad), grande (big), piccolo (small), giovane (young), vecchio (old), nuovo (new)

  • una bella città (a beautiful city)
  • un brutto film (a bad film)
  • un nuovo amico (a new friend)

These adjectives can also go after the noun. The order changes the emphasis a little: after the noun, the adjective picks out or contrasts (la casa grande, not the small one); before the noun, it simply describes (la grande casa).

Same word, different meaning

For a few adjectives, the position changes the meaning:

Before the noun After the noun
un vecchio amico (a friend of many years) un amico vecchio (an elderly friend)
un grande uomo (a great man) un uomo grande (a big man)

There are more pairs like these; at this level it is enough to know that the two orders can mean different things.

bello before a noun

When bello goes before a noun, it takes the same endings as the definite article (see Definite articles):

Noun type Singular Plural
masculine, most consonants un bel libro dei bei libri
masculine, s + consonant, z, gn, ps, pn, x, y un bello zaino dei begli zaini
masculine, vowel *un **bell'*amico dei begli amici
feminine, consonant una bella casa delle belle case
feminine, vowel *una **bell'*idea delle belle idee

After the noun, bello is a regular adjective in -o: un libro bello, i libri belli, una casa bella.

buono before a noun

Before a masculine singular noun, buono works like un / uno (see Indefinite articles): buon before most words, buono before the same beginnings that take uno (s + consonant, z, gn, ps, pn, x, y). Before feminine nouns it keeps buona, and the plural is buoni / buone:

  • un buon amico, un buon libro
  • una buona idea, buone idee
  • dei buoni amici

Two adjectives

When a noun has two adjectives, the usual pattern is one before and one after, or both after joined by e:

  • una bella casa grande (a lovely big house)
  • una casa grande e bella (a big, lovely house)

Common mistakes

  • ❌ un italiano ragazzo → ✅ un ragazzo italiano (nationalities go after the noun)
  • ❌ una blu borsa → ✅ una borsa blu (colours go after the noun)
  • ❌ un bello libro → ✅ un bel libro (bello shortens before most masculine nouns)
  • ❌ un bel zaino → ✅ un bello zaino (before z: bello)
  • ❌ i bei zaini → ✅ i begli zaini (plural before z: begli)
  • ❌ un bella casa → ✅ una bella casa (the article agrees too)

Quick check

Put the adjective in the right place and form.

  1. una macchina (rosso)
  2. un ____ libro (bello)
  3. un ____ zaino (bello)
  4. gli ____ amici (bello)
  5. una ____ idea (bello)
  6. un ____ amico (buono)
Show answers
  1. una macchina rossa (colours go after the noun)   2. bel   3. bello   4. begli   5. bell' (una bell'idea)   6. buon

Key takeaways

  • Most adjectives go after the noun; colours and nationalities normally do.
  • A short list of common adjectives (bello, brutto, buono, cattivo, grande, piccolo, giovane, vecchio, nuovo) can go before the noun.
  • Position can shift the emphasis, and for some adjectives the meaning (un vecchio amico / un amico vecchio).
  • Before a noun, bello follows the pattern of the definite article (bel, bello, bell', bei, begli, bella, belle) and buono the pattern of un / uno (buon, buono, buona).
  • Agreement in gender and number is the same wherever the adjective stands.