Learn Italian: L'arancia è arancione.

L'arancia è arancione.

The orange is orange.

Breakdown of L'arancia è arancione.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Italian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Italian now

Questions & Answers about L'arancia è arancione.

Why are there two different words for "orange" in this sentence?

In English, we use the same word for the fruit and the color, but Italian uses two distinct words. Arancia is the noun for the fruit, and arancione is the adjective for the color.

I've also seen the word arancio. Could I use that instead of arancia?

No, arancio refers specifically to the orange tree. It is a common pattern in Italian for the tree to be masculine and end in "-o" (like l'arancio or il melo for apple tree), while the fruit is feminine and ends in "-a" (like l'arancia or la mela for apple).

Since arancia is feminine, why doesn't the adjective end in "-a" (like aranciona)?

Arancione belongs to a group of adjectives that end in "-e" in the singular. These adjectives use the exact same form for both masculine and feminine nouns. If you were describing a masculine word, it would still be arancione.

If I wanted to say "The oranges are orange," how would I make this plural?

You would say Le arance sono arancioni. Notice two things: first, adjectives ending in "-e" change to "-i" in the plural (arancioni). Second, the noun arancia drops its "i" to become arance, which is a spelling rule for words ending in "-cia" when preceded by a consonant.