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Voglio comprare un paio di scarpe e dieci uova.

Voglio comprare un paio di scarpe e dieci uova.
I want to buy a pair of shoes and ten eggs.
From Lesson 136:Irregular noun plurals (le mani, gli uomini)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Voglio comprare un paio di scarpe e dieci uova.

I thought the singular word for egg was uovo (masculine). Why does the plural uova end in -a?
Uovo is one of several common Italian words that are masculine in the singular but become feminine in the plural and change their ending to -a. So, "the egg" is l'uovo, but "the eggs" is le uova.
The word for "pair" is paio. Does it follow the same irregular pattern as uova if I want to buy two pairs of shoes?
Yes! Paio is masculine in the singular (un paio), but becomes feminine and ends in -a in the plural. So, "two pairs of shoes" would be due paia di scarpe.
Do I always need di after un paio?
Yes, just like in English where you say "a pair of shoes", in Italian you must use di (of) to connect the quantity un paio to the noun it describes: un paio di scarpe.
Why isn't comprare (to buy) conjugated here?
Because it comes right after voglio (I want). In Italian, when you use a modal verb (like wanting, being able to, or needing to do something), only the first verb is conjugated. The second verb stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form, like comprare.

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