Question 1

Why is it i nostri and not just nostri?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, possessive adjectives almost always need a definite article (the words for "the", like il, la, i, or le) right in front of them. Since bagagli (bags) is masculine plural, we use the masculine plural article i to make i nostri.

Question 2

Does the ending of nostri depend on who owns the bags?

Accepted Answer

No, it depends on the bags! The root of the word tells us who owns it (nostr- means "our"), but the ending must agree with the thing being owned. Because bagagli is masculine plural, the possessive must end in -i (nostri), regardless of whether the group of people who own them are men or women.

Question 3

What is the singular form of bagagli?

Accepted Answer

The singular is bagaglio (a bag or piece of luggage). Masculine words ending in -io usually just drop the -o in the plural to avoid an awkward double "i" at the end. That is why it becomes bagagli instead of "bagaglii".

Question 4

Since everything else is plural, why isn't it molti pesanti?

Accepted Answer

Because here molto means "very", which makes it an adverb. Adverbs never change their endings! Molto only changes its ending to agree with a noun when it means "many" or "a lot of" (for example, molti bagagli means "many bags").

Question 5

Why does the adjective pesanti end in -i?

Accepted Answer

It is describing the plural noun bagagli. The singular form of the word for "heavy" is pesante. Remember that Italian adjectives ending in -e in the singular always change to -i in the plural, for both masculine and feminine nouns.

I nostri bagagli sono molto pesanti.

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