Gran or grande? Adjectives that change before nouns
Some adjectives can change when they are placed before certain nouns.
Un gioco bello → Un bel gioco
A beautiful game
Adjectives that change before masculine or feminine nouns:
- Grande generally becomes gran before nouns that start with a consonant and means something different depending on whether it comes before or after the noun.
Una gran persona (una persona con delle grandi qualità)
A great person (a person with great qualities)
Una persona grande (una persona alta, imponente)
A tall person
Adjectives that only change before masculine nouns:
- Bello (beautiful, handsome) and quello (that) become bel and quel before masculine nouns that start with most consonants and bell’, quell’ and sant’ before masculine and feminine nouns that start with a vowel.
Un giovane bello → Un bel giovane
A handsome young man
Un uomo bello → Un bell’uomo
A handsome man
Quel cane / Quell’armadio
That dog / That closet
- Alcuno (some, any), buono (good), ciascuno (each) and nessuno (none, any, no-one) become alcun, buon, ciascun and nessun before masculine nouns that start with either a consonant or a vowel
Alcun libro
Any book, some book
Un buon compagno
A good companion
Nessun amico
No friend(s)
Notes:
- Grande (great, large), bello (beautiful, handsome), buono (good) and quello (that) do not change before nouns that start with s + consonant, z, x, gn or ps.
Un bello scorcio → Un bel sogno
A beautiful glimpse → A beautiful dream
Un grande scatolone → Un gran aiuto
A large can → A great help
- The adverb bene (good, well), which is equivalent to the adjective buono (good), changes if it comes before a past participle.
È fatto bene → È ben fatto
It's well done
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