Italian grammar: nouns in "-co" and "-go"

Plural of Italian nouns ending in "-co" and "-go"

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It is important to clarify immediately that due to considerable a number of exceptions, the following instructions may be considered only a very general guidelines and, when coming across an unfamiliar name with these endings, we recommend to check the plural form in a dictionary.

According to the major Italian grammars (but I have found some easier guidelines in a small grammar), we can divide the Italian nouns ending in "-co" and "-go" in two classes:

A) Nouns in which the accent falls on the penultimate syllable

Singular	Plural
Nouns ending in "-co"... Examples: Fuoco (fire) - accent → fuòco	change the ending in "-chi" Examples: Fuochi
Nouns ending in "-go"... Examples: Albergo (hotel) - accent → albèrgo	change the ending in "-ghi" Examples: Alberghi

But...

Amico (friend) → amici, nemico (henemy) → nemici, Greco (Greek) → Greci, porco (pig) → porci.

B) Nouns in which the accent falls before the penultimate syllable

Singular	Plural
Nouns ending in "-co"... Examples: Sindaco (mayor) - accent → sìndaco	change the ending in "-ci" Examples: Sindaci
Nouns ending in "-go"... Examples: Asparago (asparagus) - accent → aspàrago	change the ending in "-gi" Examples: Asparagi

But...

Carico (load) → carichi, epilogo (epilogue) → epiloghi, incarico (task) → incarichi, obbligo (duty) → obblighi, pizzico (task) → pizzichi, profugo (refugee) → profughi, valico (pass) → valichi.

NOTE: Nouns ending in "-logo", in the plural tend to change the ending to "-logi" when they refer to people and to "-loghi" when they refer to things.

Examples:
Psicologo (psycologist) → psicologi, catalogo (catalogue) → cataloghi.

A different and easier approach

(from "Italian grammar", by Marcel Danesi - Barron's editions - 2002)

In the Italian grammar, by Marcel Danesi, there are some interesting and easy tips about the plural of nouns ending in "-co" and "-go".

Nouns ending in "-co":

- Change the "-co" to "chi" when "-a-", "-o-", "-u-" or a consonant precedes it;

Examples:
fuoco (fire) → fuochi, parco (park) → parchi, buco (hole)→ buchi, etc..

- Change the "-co" to "ci" when "-e-" or "-i-" precedes it;

Examples:
amico (friend) → amici, medico → medici, greco (Greek) → greci, etc...

But...

Porco (pig) → porci, fico (figue) → fichi.

Nouns ending in "-go":

- Change the "-go" to "ghi" in most cases. However, when the nouns ends in the suffix "-logo" and refers to a profession, career, or activity, then the approprieate plural suffix is "-logi"

Examples:
Lago (fire) → laghi, albergo (hotel) → alberghi, biologo (biologist)→ biologi, etc...

But...

Not all nouns ending in "-logo" refer to the same kinds of things. In such cases, the "-go " is changed to "-ghi" in the plural.

Examples: catalogo (catalogue) → cataloghi, dialogo (dialogue) → dialoghi, etc...

The above rules are to be considered only as guidelines.

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