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Le lenzuola rosse sono sul letto?

Le lenzuola rosse sono sul letto?
Are the red sheets on the bed?
From Lesson 136:Irregular noun plurals (le mani, gli uomini)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Le lenzuola rosse sono sul letto?

Why does lenzuola end in -a, and what gender is it?
Lenzuola (sheets) is a highly irregular noun. In the singular, it is masculine and ends in -o: il lenzuolo. However, in the plural, it switches to feminine and ends in -a: le lenzuola.
Why is the adjective rosse instead of rossi?
Because lenzuola becomes feminine in the plural, any adjectives describing it must also be feminine plural. Even though a singular sheet (il lenzuolo) is masculine, the plural sheets are feminine, so rosso changes to rosse.
Is this masculine-to-feminine plural switch common?
It happens with a specific, high-frequency group of words, often related to body parts or things that come in sets. You will see this exact same pattern with words like l'uovo (the egg) becoming le uova, and il braccio (the arm) becoming le braccia.
Can you remind me how sul is formed here?
Sul is a combined word meaning on the. It joins the preposition su (on) with il (the masculine singular article for the), which perfectly matches the masculine singular noun letto (bed).

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