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Il plurale dei nomi composti – Plural form of Italian compound nouns

Compound nouns have been presented and briefly discussed in another Italian grammar page of level B2. The plural form of Italian compound nouns is sometimes tricky, because it’s formation follows different rules according to the kind of words that make up the compound nouns. If fact il can be formed by verbs, adjectives, adverbs or other nouns.

The compound noun doesn’t change if:

  •  the second element is a verb:

belvedere

saliscendi

fuggifuggi

  •  the second element is an adverb:

sottosopra

posapiano

  •  the second element is a plural or uncountable noun:

cavatappi

lavastoviglie

appendiabiti

asciugacapelli

  •  the first element is a verb and the second one is a singular feminine noun:

battistrada

battiscopa

tosaerba

Compound nouns form the plural by changing the last vowel of thesecond element when:

  •  the name is not perceived as a compound noun by the speakers:

la ferrovia – le ferrovie

la banconota – le banconote

  •  the gender of the two nouns is the same:

il cavolfiore – i cavolfori

  •  the word is made up by an adjective and a masculine noun:

bassorilievo – bassorilievi

aeronauta – aeronauti

graduca – granduchi

  •  the nouns are both adjectives:

chiaroscuro – chiaroscuri

sordomuto – sordomuti

  •  it is given by a verb + a masculine noun or the female noun “mano”:

passaporto – passaporti

asciugamano – asciugamani

grattacielo – grattacieli

  •  it si given by an uncountable noun (adverb/preposition) + noun:

il soprannome – i soprannomi

il sottovaso – i sottovasi

Plural of both the nouns that compound the word:

  •  noun + adjective:

la cassaforte – le casseforti

  •  adjective + feminine noun:

la mezzaluna – le mezzelune

Plural of compound nouns in “capo-“

  • When the compound noun is made up with the male noun “capo-” indicating a man who leads something, we have the plural of “capo-” and the second part doesn’t change:

il capostazione – i capistazione

  • When it is a woman who leads something, the two nouns don’t change:

la capofamiglia – le capofamiglia

  • When the compound noun with “capo-” indicates that the person has a more important role than other people with the same activity, in the plural it’s only the second part that changes:

il capocuoco – i capicuochi

la capocuoca – le capocuoche

(note that both “capo-” and the second noun indicate a human subject, in this case the profession “cuoco/a”)

  • When the compound noun with “capo-” does not refer to someone with a special role among the rest, the plural form is given by the plural of the second word only:

il capoluogo – i capoluoghi

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