Italian Language Lessons
Grammar, spelling, and usage
Italian Irregular Plurals
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There are several words in Italian that have two plural forms—a masculine and a feminine. Many of these are related to parts of the body and have diverse meanings.
| IRREGULAR PLURALS |
|---|
| SINGULAR | MASCULINE PLURAL | FEMININE PLURAL |
|---|
| braccio | i bracci (arms of a lamp or cross) | le braccia (arms) |
| budello | i budelli (streets, alleyways) | le budella (intestines) |
| calcagno | i calcagni (ankles) | stare alle calcagna (to follow someone closely) |
| ciglio | i cigli (edge, rim) | le ciglia (eyelashes) |
| dito | i diti (used when followed by the finger's name) | le dita (fingers) |
| labbro | i labbri border, brim | le labbra lips |
| osso | gli ossi (bones for dogs to eat) | le ossa (bones) |
There are also body parts with masculine and feminine plurals that have the same meaning. One such example is ginocchio. Both i ginocchi and le ginocchia refer to "the knees."
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