{"id":172,"date":"2009-08-17T08:34:50","date_gmt":"2009-08-17T12:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=172"},"modified":"2009-08-17T08:34:50","modified_gmt":"2009-08-17T12:34:50","slug":"adjectives-and-their-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/adjectives-and-their-position\/","title":{"rendered":"Adjectives and their position"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago\u00a0in my\u00a0blog Esprimiti – part 1<\/span><\/a> I\u00a0wrote:\u00a0Siamo entusiasti della nostra nuova casa<\/strong> (we are delighted with our new house), which prompted\u00a0the following\u00a0question from Vince: \u201c\u2018nuova casa\u2019.\u00a0 That\u2019s how we say it in English.\u00a0 Do Italians now put adjectives in front of nouns with there being no change in meaning?\u00a0 Is there a rule for when you put an adjective in front of a noun or after a noun?\u201d<\/em><\/span> The answer is Yes! there is a rule but, as is often the case, us native speakers are not really aware of it, we just use adjectives instinctively i.e. we do what \u2018sounds right\u2019 to us. Therefore to be able to answer this question properly\u00a0I had to do a bit of studying myself, and the result is quite interesting.<\/span><\/p>\n

1) Adjectives\u00a0normally precede a noun in the following cases<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

aggettivi numerali<\/strong> (numerals), e.g. due<\/span> cappuccini, per favore <\/strong>(two<\/span> cappuccini, please); l\u2019appartamento \u00e8 al primo<\/span> piano <\/strong>(the apartment is on the first<\/span> floor)<\/span><\/p>\n

aggettivi possessivi <\/strong>(possessives), e.g. dov\u2019\u00e8 la tua<\/span> macchina? <\/strong>(where is your<\/span> car?)<\/span><\/p>\n

aggettivi indefiniti <\/strong>(indefinite adjectives), e.g. desidera un altro<\/span> biscotto? <\/strong>(would you like another<\/span> biscuit?); c\u2019erano poche<\/span> persone <\/strong>(there were few<\/span> people)<\/span><\/p>\n

aggettivi dimostrativi <\/strong>(demonstratives), e.g. questo<\/span> libro \u00e8 interessante <\/strong>(this<\/span> book is interesting); quel<\/span> fiore \u00e8 bellissimo <\/strong>(that<\/span> flower is beautiful)<\/span><\/p>\n

aggettivi interrogativi <\/strong>(interrogatives), e.g. quale<\/span> gusto preferisci? <\/strong>(which<\/span> flavor do you prefer?)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2) Adjectives normally follow a noun in the following cases<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

aggettivi di nazionalit\u00e0 <\/strong>(nationalities), e.g. la lingua italiana<\/span> \u00e8 musicale <\/strong>(the Italian<\/span> language is musical)<\/span><\/p>\n

aggettivi di colori <\/strong>(colors), e.g. ho comprato un vestito verde<\/span><\/strong> (I bought a green<\/span> dress)<\/span><\/p>\n

participi passati usati come aggettivi <\/strong>(past participles used as adjectives), e.g. mi piacciono le pere cotte <\/strong>(I like cooked<\/span> pears); la pasta fatta in casa<\/span> \u00e8 pi\u00f9 buona <\/strong>(homemade<\/span> pasta is nicer)<\/span><\/p>\n

aggettivi preceduti da un avverbio <\/strong>(adjectives preceded by an adverb), e.g. Anna \u00e8 una studentessa molto diligente<\/span> <\/strong>(Anna is a very diligent<\/span> student)<\/span><\/p>\n

aggettivi alterati <\/strong>(adjectives modified by a suffix), e.g. \u00e8 una casa carina<\/span><\/strong> (it\u2019s a pretty<\/span> house)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For all the other adjectives, there is a general rule for their position before or after a noun, that is:<\/span><\/p>\n

when an adjective comes after the noun its position is more emphatic, and the information added by the adjective is fundamental to the understanding of the noun<\/span>, e.g. le case vecchie<\/span> del paese sono costruite in sasso<\/strong> (the old<\/span> houses of the village are built\u00a0of stone), implying that only the old houses<\/span> are built\u00a0of stones, and that there are also some new houses which are not built of stone.<\/span><\/p>\n

when an adjectives is before the noun, its value is reduced and the information given is extra but not fundamental to the understanding of the noun.<\/span>\u00a0So by simply moving the position of the adjective in the following way:\u00a0le vecchie<\/span> case del paese sono costruite in sasso<\/strong> changes the meaning to: in the village all the houses are old<\/span> and built\u00a0of stone. The\u00a0adjective\u00a0vecchie<\/strong> (old),\u00a0is not an essential piece of information, and could even be left out without changing the main point of the sentence, which is that all the houses in the village are built of stone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So to return to the original example: s<\/strong>iamo entusiasti della nostra nuova casa<\/span><\/strong> (we are delighted with our new\u00a0house). In this case the\u00a0fact that the adjective precedes the noun\u00a0indicates that the newness of the house\u00a0is just bonus information i.e. we could simply say s<\/strong>iamo entusiasti della nostra casa<\/strong> (we are delighted with our house) without changing the main meaning of the sentence<\/span>. However, if\u00a0we\u00a0say siamo entusiasti della nostra casa nuova<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>the implication would be\u00a0that we are delighted with our new house<\/span> as opposed to\u00a0our old house i.e. the newness of the house has now become an essential piece of information.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, there are some cases in which adjectives change meaning according to their position, but I will save that for rainy day!<\/span><\/p>\n

A presto<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago\u00a0in my\u00a0blog Esprimiti – part 1 I\u00a0wrote:\u00a0Siamo entusiasti della nostra nuova casa (we are delighted with our new house), which prompted\u00a0the following\u00a0question from Vince: \u201c\u2018nuova casa\u2019.\u00a0 That\u2019s how we say it in English.\u00a0 Do Italians now put adjectives in front of nouns with there being no change in meaning?\u00a0 Is there a…<\/p>\n

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