It's good to know some basic Italian adjectives so that you can comment on things you see, hear, smell, and taste. We'll be presenting 50 Italian adjectives that people use every day, approximately 10 by 10, so they'll be manageable. Some of these will be easy because they are similar to ones you know in English. Others will be past participles of verbs, just as in English. Yet others will be weird and different and just need to be memorized. And there will be some false friends to watch out for. For more about how adjectives work, see this lesson.
Adjectives are an essential part of speaking a language but the good news is that even if you don't know how to form a sentence or a question, just knowing the appropriate adjective can allow you to communicate something. And that's what language is all about: communication. So if nothing else, just say the appropriate adjective, all by itself, and you will get your message across.
1) bello (beautiful, great)
We can use this adjective for much more than describing a panorama or person as “beautiful.”
We also use it for a movie or book we liked, a situation like a vacation, an encounter…
Ho visto un bel film (I saw a great movie).
So it can also mean “wonderful.” And, since it’s an adjective that changes its ending according to gender and number, it can be used for both guys and gals or masculine and feminine nouns by just changing the ending from bello to bella. So it also means “handsome!”
You'll have noticed that instead of saying Ho visto un bello film, we chop off the ending when it's followed directly by the noun. We say:
Ho visto un bel film, ho letto un bel libro (I saw a great movie, I read a good book).
When you see something beautiful, you can simply say Bello! or Che bello!
Bello, l'ha fatto Lei?
b. Did you do it?
Caption 16, Adriano Olivetti La forza di un sogno Ep. 1 - Part 18
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2) buono (good)
Buono is used a lot for food, for instance, when something tastes good, but it’s also used to mean “valid.” It can also describe a good person.
È una buona persona (He/she is a good person).
Note that persona is a feminine noun, so even if we are talking about a boy or man, the adjective describing persona has to take a feminine ending. Tricky, right?
See Daniela's video lesson about bello, buono, and bene.
Questo è il gelato artigianale. Più gli ingredienti sono freschi e più è buono.
This is handmade ice cream. The fresher the ingredients are, the better it is.
Captions 15-16, Andromeda in - Storia del gelato - Part 2
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Note: Buono is one of those adjectives that has an irregular comparative. See this lesson and this one, too.
3) carino (nice, pretty, good-looking)
This is another adjective with an “o” ending, changing its ending according to gender and number. In aesthetic terms, it is less extreme than bello. However, carino is often used to mean “nice” or “kind” in describing a person, or what the person has done, for example, if you do someone a favor they didn’t ask you to do.
Eh sì. -Eh sì. Comunque Luca è stato molto carino, eh, ad accompagnare suo figlio Fabio all'istituto.
Oh yes. -Oh yes. However Luca was very sweet, no, to accompany his son Fabio to the institute.
Oh yes. -Oh yes. However, it was really nice of Luca, no, to accompany his son Fabio to the institute.
Captions 26-27, Il Commissario Manara S1EP1 - Un delitto perfetto - Part 14
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4) gentile (kind, gentle)
Gentile is a bit more formal than carino. Carino is often used to describe people close to you, but if the bank manager was nice and polite to you, you would use the word gentile. You might also use cortese (courteous) —a great cognate!
E come no, mai una cattiva parola, sempre gentile.
For sure, never a mean word, always kind.
Caption 31, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone EP2 Rabbia - Part 3
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5) bravo (capable, well-behaved, good at something)
Caro Olivetti, sarai anche bravo a far le macchine da scrivere, ma i tuoi interessi non sono i nostri.
Dear Olivetti, you might be good at making typewriters, but your interests are not ours.
Captions 43-44, Adriano Olivetti La forza di un sogno Ep.2 - Part 20
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False friend alert! Forget about “brave” for the most part. Fai la brava! means “Be a good girl!”
È un bravo idraulico (he is a very capable plumber. He is a good plumber).
When I want to say, “Good for you!” I say Bravo! (for a guy) or Brava! (for a gal).
Il cane è bravo (he’s a good [well-behaved] dog–he won’t bite you).
6) ottimo (great, excellent)
This looks like “optimal,” and can also mean that sometimes, but primarily, it’s a superlative kind of adjective that means “great.” Consider this exchange:
Ci vediamo alle cinque. -Ottimo.
I’ll meet you at five o’clock. -Great.
È un ottimo posto per fare jogging.
It's a great place to go jogging.
Caption 25, Anna e Marika Villa Torlonia - Casino Nobile
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This is the perfect comment for someone whose work you appreciated:
Ottimo lavoro!
[You did a] great job!
7) eccellente (excellent)
Here’s a great true friend or cognate. This adjective ends in e, so it doesn’t change with gender, just number.
Questo risotto era da vero eccellente (this risotto was excellent.)Queste ostriche sono eccellenti (these oysters are great.)
Eccellente can also describe a prominent or eminent person, such as someone in a high position.
8) corretto (correct, fair, right, decent)
Here is a partially false friend. If you get the right answer, la risposta è corretta. That’s easy. However, the other meaning of “fair,” — “fair-minded,” “sportsmanlike”— is less familiar to non-native speakers, but very important! For instance, corretto can describe a person as well as his or her behavior.
Pensavo che fosse una persona corretta, e invece… (I thought he was a decent, fair-minded person, but instead…)
Ma ti pare corretto, l'esaminatore che si fa venire a prendere dall'esaminando? -No. -Ma dai!
But does it seem right to you for the exam giver to have the exam taker pick him up? -No. -Come on!
Captions 8-9, La Ladra EP. 11 - Un esame importante - Part 4
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9) favoloso (fabulous, magnificent, awesome)
Here is another true friend. We don’t use “fabulous” in English so much anymore — but some of us still remember the “fab four” (The Beatles). In contrast, Italians do use favoloso when they really mean it. Eyebrows go up, eyes get wider.
Allora, io oggi sono arrivata in questa favolosa città, Lucca, però non la conosco, quindi dove posso andare?
So, today I arrived in this fabulous city, Lucca, but I don't know it, so where can I go?
Captions 16-17, In giro per l'Italia Lucca - Part 1
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10) magnifico (magnificent, great, terrific, cool)
Another true friend, this adjective is somewhat over-used in Italian, thus diminishing its value as a superlative:
Ci vediamo alle cinque. -Magnifico. (I’ll see you at five. -Great.)
E tu, come sempre, sei stata magnifica. -E tu un magnifico bugiardo.
And you, as always, were magnificent. -And you, a magnificent liar.
Captions 2-3, La Ladra EP. 12 - Come ai vecchi tempi - Part 14
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Let's add one more adjective (not included in the 50) that is super easy to use, and easy to remember: fantastico. It's used just like "fantastic" in English, so when you're short on vocabulary, try this one. AND even if you say it in English, people will understand. Of course, it can also be connected with "fantasy," but that's another story.
Sarebbe fantastico andare al concerto tutti insieme. -Un sogno.
It would be fantastic to go to a concert all together. -A dream.
Caption 48, JAMS S1 EP2 - Part 7
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We hope this has been helpful. The next group of adjectives will be about negative adjectives. Stay tuned!
Here's a great expression Italians use all the time. We can figure out the meaning easily, but finding a specific English equivalent is not all that straightforward. The important thing is to understand what Italians are trying to get across when they say it, and to be able to use it ourselves in Italian when the situation calls for it.
When you know who you are dealing with and can predict an outcome based on how well you know that person or type of person, that's when you say:
Conosco i miei polli (I know my chickens).
E gli ha detto di farsi operare nella sua clinica privata.
And he told him to have the operation in his private clinic.
-E tu come lo sai?
-And how do you know?
-Perché conosco i miei polli.
-Because I know my chickens [I know who I'm dealing with].
Captions 24-25, La Ladra - EP.11 - Un esame importante
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Some attribute this expression to Saint Francis of Assisi, who was a great lover of animals and nature, so it seems it goes way back to the 13th century as well as being alive and well today.
Italians are known for setting up orti (vegetable gardens) and pollai (chicken coops or henhouses) whenever and wherever they have the opportunity. So chickens, in many cases, are part of everyday life. These days, this is a less frequent phenomenon, but in the past, during the war, for example, raising chickens and having a little vegetable garden was a question of survival.
Let's just mention that conoscere can have a few different nuances of meaning. Check out this lesson all about the verb conoscere. In the present case we are talking about knowing a person well, being familiar with their habits. It may be a friend who is always late, so you won't be surprised when they arrive with a 15 minute delay... It may be someone who never offers to pay, or always offers to pay. It may mean making an extra amount of pasta because you know your dinner guest is a good eater. It can be positive or negative, and can be said before someone does something, or as a justification afterwards.
Ci butto un etto di pasta in più perché
I'll throw in one hundred grams more pasta because
conosco i miei polli.
I know my chickens.
Gianni è una buona forchetta.
Gianni is a big eater.
1) If you were to say this after the fact, to explain why you made so much pasta, what could you say?
Even if we are talking about one person, as in the video clip included above, the plural is generally used — it's a fixed expression.
And this might be a good time to remember that we need the article before the possessive pronoun in Italian, but not in English. I miei polli. The singular would be il mio pollo.
You can also use the expression in reference to someone else knowing their chickens.
Conosci i tuoi polli, eh? (you know who you're dealing with, I guess).
2) Let's say someone is telling you that they would always make more pasta than usual for this particular guest. How would you modify the question?
As you go about your day, think of people you know and try predicting what they will say or do. As they prove you right, with a little chuckle, you can say to yourself, "Conosco i miei polli."
One more word about chickens. A chicken is young, and a hen is old. In English we can say "henhouse" or "chicken coop." In Italian, it's usually pollaio but naturally, the pollaio is full of both polli (chickens) and galline (hens).
Another expression using galline describes people who go to bed early:
Alle otto se ne vanno a casa e non escono più, come le galline.
At eight o'clock they go home and don't go out again, like hens.
Caption 40, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP3 - Rapsodia in Blu
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3) What if the person were talking about one other person, not a group of people? What might he say?
The translation we have provided here is literal, and therefore "hens," but in English we would sooner say "chickens" when we want to be generic. The only time you really need to know the difference between galline and polli is when buying them to eat. We want pollo for most dishes, but Italians love broth and it's common to use certain cuts of beef plus a piece of gallina or fowl to make il brodo (the broth).
There's another famous expression in Italian, often referring to a woman of a certain age who might be feeling old. It's a compliment of sorts.
Gallina vecchia fa buon brodo ([An] old hen makes good broth).
More about brodo (broth) in this lesson.
And let's not forget the male member of this group of animali da cortile (barnyard animals) : il gallo (the rooster).
Ho provato ad immaginare il classico finale
I tried to imagine the classic ending
dove lei lascia tutto e si trasferisce in campagna,
where she leaves everything and moves to the country,
perché ha scoperto quanto è bello farsi
because she discovered how wonderful it is to be
svegliare dal gallo.
woken up by the rooster.
Captions 5-7, Sei mai stata sulla luna? - film
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1) C'ho buttato un etto di pasta in più perché conosco i miei polli. Gianni è una buona forchetta.
2) Conoscevi i tuoi polli, eh?
3) Alle otto se ne va a casa e non esce più, come le galline.
4) Sto provando ad immaginare il classico finale dove lei lascia tutto e si trasferisce in campagna, perché ha scoperto quanto è bello farsi svegliare dal gallo.
Provavo ad immaginare il classico finale dove lei lascia tutto e si trasferisce in campagna, perché ha scoperto quanto è bello farsi svegliare dal gallo.
Proverò ad immaginare il classico finale dove lei lascia tutto e si trasferisce in campagna, perché ha scoperto quanto è bello farsi svegliare dal gallo.
Stavo provando ad immaginare il classico finale dove lei lascia tutto e si trasferisce in campagna, perché ha scoperto quanto è bello farsi svegliare dal gallo.
Provo ad immaginare il classico finale dove lei lascia tutto e si trasferisce in campagna, perché ha scoperto quanto è bello farsi svegliare dal gallo.
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