Questions & Answers about Abbiamo comprato due apribottiglie nuovi.
Why doesn't apribottiglie change its ending for the plural?
Apribottiglie is a compound noun made of a verb (apri, from aprire - to open) and a noun that is already plural (bottiglie - bottles). When a compound noun is formed by a verb and a plural noun, its ending doesn't change in the plural. You just change the article or number before it: un apribottiglie (one) becomes due apribottiglie (two).
If bottiglie is feminine, why does the adjective nuovi have a masculine plural ending?
Even though it contains the feminine word bottiglie, the compound noun apribottiglie itself is masculine. In Italian, compound words for tools or instruments that combine a verb and a noun are almost always masculine. Since we have two bottle openers, the adjective must agree with the masculine plural noun, making it nuovi.
Why doesn't the past participle comprato change to comprati to match the plural objects?
When you use avere as the helping verb in the past tense, the past participle (comprato) only changes to match the object if you use a direct object pronoun (like li or le) before the verb. Since the object here (due apribottiglie) comes directly after the verb, the participle keeps its default -o ending.
Are there other common tools that follow this exact same rule?