Suffixes may be attached to nouns, adjectives or adverbs. The final vowel of the word should be dropped before adding the suffixes. The endings -ino, -ina, -ello, -ella, -etta, -etta, -uccio, and -uccia are diminutives that express smallness. The endings -one and -ona are augmentatives and express largeness. The endings -ino and -uccio also express endearment. The endings -aacio, -accia, -astro, -astra, -azzo, and -azza imply ugliness or poor quality.
| letter
parcel
boy |
lettera
pacco
ragazzo |
small letter
large parcel
bad boy |
letterina
paccone
ragazzaccio |
Tesorino mio! My sweetheart!
Amoruccio mio! My sweet love!
Most adverbs are formed by adding -mente to the feminine singular form of the adjective. Adjectives ending in -le or -re drop the final -e before adding -mente, if the l or r is preceded by a vowel.
| Adjective |
Adverb |
|
recente
comoda
finale
regolare |
recentemente
comodamente
finalmente
regolarmente |
recently
comfortably
finally
regularly |
Note that the adverbial form of buono (good) is bene, and cattivo (bad) is male.
In passive sentences, the subject receives the action of the verb. In active sentences, the subject does the action. However, the meaning of both sentences is the same. The passive form is only possible with transitive verbs and is much more common in English than in Italian. The passive form consists of the verb essere plus the past participle of the main verb followed by da (by) and its contractions. Essere should be in the same tense as the verb in its corresponding active sentence. The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject.
| Active |
I miei genitori pagano l'affitto. |
My parents pay the rent. |
| Passive |
L'affito è pagato dai miei genitori. |
The rent is paid by my parents. |
I contratti sono firmati dalle ragazze. The contracts are signed by the girls.
La stanza è stata arredata da Carlo. The room was decorated by Carlo.
L'affito sarà pagato dai miei genitori. The rent will be payed by my parents.
