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I gattini hanno le pance piene.

I gattini hanno le pance piene.
The kittens have full bellies.
From Lesson 243:Feminine noun plurals in -cia and -gia (-ce, -ge)·Italian

Questions & Answers about I gattini hanno le pance piene.

Why is the plural spelled pance and not pancie?
The singular word for belly is pancia. Because it ends in an unstressed -cia and there is a consonant (n) right before it, it drops the i in the plural. If there were a vowel before the -cia (like in camicia), it would keep the i in the plural to become camicie.
Why is the adjective piene instead of pieni?
Pancia is a feminine noun, so its plural pance is feminine plural. The adjective pieno (full) must agree with it, changing its ending to the feminine plural -e to become piene.
How do we get gattini from gatto?
By adding the diminutive suffix -ino to the root of gatto (cat), we get gattino (kitten or little cat). Because there are multiple kittens in this sentence, it becomes the masculine plural gattini.
Why does Italian use le pance (the bellies) instead of just saying hanno pance piene?
In Italian, definite articles like le are generally required before body parts, whereas English often leaves them out entirely or uses possessive pronouns (like saying their bellies).

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