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Multiple Adjective Position I'm not sure how to position and punctuate multiple adjectives or other modifiers. For example: Ho scoperto un molto interessante libro inglese intitolata “Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget it”. I discovered a very interesting, English book entitled "...". Un grande, rosso, libro tascabile. A big, red, paperback book. In English the modifiers go before the noun and commas appear after all but the last in the list. How do you do it correctly in Italian?

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Multiple Adjective Position

I'm not sure how to position and punctuate multiple adjectives or other modifiers. For example:

Ho scoperto un  libro inglese molto interessante intitolato “Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget it”. (Fluent = Fluente; forever = per sempre = How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget it = come imparare velocemente qualsiasi lingua e non dimenticarla).

I discovered a very interesting, English book entitled "...".

(IO) ho scoperto un libro inglese molto interessante.

Un grande, rosso, libro tascabile.

A big, red, paperback book.



In English the modifiers go before the noun and commas appear after all but the last in the list. How do you do it correctly in Italian?

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Esempi:

La mia vecchia macchina funziona ancora.

La mia vecchia macchina rossa funziona ancora.

Ho comprato un grande libro tascabile, di colore rosso.

Ho comprato un grande libro rosso tascabile.

/tascabile/ is perfect (pocket size)

 

careful (probably you already know this):

a1. grande libro = great book

a2. libro grande = big book

 

/Ho comprato un libro grande  tascabile/ has a contradiction in it.

 

Un caffe' costoso ma cattivo.

Un caffe' costoso e cattivo.

Un gelato verde buonissimo, al gusto di pistacchio.

 

Sometimes you could just use /e/ to use more than one qualifier:

t1. Un tavolo antico e grande come piace a me.

t2. Un tavolo antico e grande, come piace a me.

The meaning (due to ',') of (t1) an (t2) is different: in (t1) you are asserting

that you like 'tavolo grande', in (t2) you are asserting that you like a

/tavolo/ that is both 'antico' and 'grande'.

 

Una camera soleggiata e grandissima, fa proprio per me (it suits me perfectly)!

Una canzone di Riccardo Cocciante, malinconica e molto melodiosa.

Una canzone di Franco Battiato, misteriosa e bellissima.

 

c1. Una bella canzone di Lucio Dalla, di significato profondo.

c2. Una bella e profonda canzone di Lucio Dalla.

(c1) is better than (c2).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Multiple Adjective Position

I'm not sure how to position and punctuate multiple adjectives or other modifiers. For example:

Ho scoperto un libro inglese molto interessante libro inglese intitolato “Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget it”.

I discovered a very interesting, English book entitled "...".

Un grande, rosso, libro rosso tascabile.

A big, red, paperback book.

In English the modifiers go before the noun and commas appear after all but the last in the list. How do you do it correctly in Italian?

 

 

Hi, 

usually in Italian we do not have a specific rule to follow, regarding the order of that kind of adjectives. It depends of what you want to underline in your sentence, so you have to put first the characteristic you want to emphasize. 

 

http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/it/lingua-italiana/consulenza-linguistica/domande-risposte/posizione-dellaggettivo-qualificativo-italia

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In English the modifiers go before the noun and commas appear after all but the last in the list. How do you do it correctly in Italian?

 

Italian likes less than English long list of modifiers and there is not a clear way to deal with.

We usually try to break the list with commas and  "e", or other tricks.

 




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How do commas depend on the style? Please would you give me some examples?

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