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Irregular forms of adjectives
Bello (beautiful) and quello (that; pl., those)
Before a noun or an adjective, the forms of bello and quello are similar to those of the definite article combined with di in the same situation: bel, quel (cf. del), bei, quei (cf. dei), etc.
| Definite article | bello | quello |
| il | bel | quel |
| i | bei | quei |
| lo | bello | quello |
| gli | begli | quegli |
| la | bella | quella |
| le | belle | quelle |
| l’ | bell’ | quell’ |
Buono (good) has singular forms paralleling those of the indefinite article: buon (cf. un), buona (cf. una), buon’ (cf. un’), and buono (cf. uno).
Grande (big, large) and santo (saint) also have singular forms which vary not only with gender and number, but also depending on the initial sound of the following word:
| MASCULINE | FEMININE | |
| “Usual” form | gran; san | grande, gran; santa |
| Before z, sC, or gn | grande; santo | grande; santa |
| Before vowel | grande, grand’; sant’ | grande, grand’;sant’ |
VOCABULARY
| ammalato ill |
capo head |
rovina ruin |
squilibrio lack of equilibrium, imbalance |
| uccello bird |