Learn Italian: Le chiavi sono vecchie e piccole.

Le chiavi sono vecchie e piccole.

The keys are old and small.

Breakdown of Le chiavi sono vecchie e piccole.

Questions & Answers about Le chiavi sono vecchie e piccole.

Why does chiavi end in -i if it is a feminine word?

The singular word is chiave. It belongs to a group of nouns that end in -e in the singular and change to -i in the plural, no matter their gender. Because it is a feminine noun, it uses the feminine plural article le, even though the noun ends in -i.

If the noun is chiavi, why do the adjectives end in -e (vecchie and piccole)?

Adjectives must match the gender and number of the noun they describe. Chiavi is feminine plural. Regular adjectives like vecchio (old) and piccolo (small) change their endings to -e for feminine plural. They do not copy the noun's exact spelling; they follow their own standard feminine plural rules.

Why is there an h in the word vecchie?

The singular feminine word is vecchia, which has a hard C sound (like a K). If we just changed the -a to -e to make it plural, the spelling would be 'vecce' and the C would sound like the CH in 'cheese'. In Italian, we add an h to keep that hard C sound in the plural.

Why don't we need to repeat the word sono before piccole?

Just like in English, you do not need to repeat the verb when listing adjectives connected by e (and). Saying sono vecchie e piccole (are old and small) sounds much more natural than repeating the verb.