Aggettivi di personalità… Come sei tu?

La personalità… Come sei tu? Describing your personality… 

In this lesson:
VOCAB: Adjectives of Personality 
GRAMMAR: Masculine vs. Feminine Adjectives 
GRAMMAR: The verb "ESSERE - to be" 
CULTURE: Gender & Addressing a group

Adjectives of Personality

Come sei tu?

Word for word, this is "How are you?", but because it uses the verb "essere" (sei) [and not "stare" as in Come stai?] it is not asking your current state or mood, but rather, generally, how are you... as in What do you look like?, or What is your personality like?

This time, we're going to focus on the personality aspect of this question and look at some possible answers.

No matter what your personality type (or your gender) the answer could start with:

Sono una persona …

I am a …… person.

"Persona" is a feminine noun, no matter if the person is male or a female, so the adjective describing it will be in the feminine as well.

Try browsing some of the possible answers and see which, if any, you recognize. Write down a few, or as many as you like, that apply to you:

Now that you've browsed, use the definitions below to look up any of the terms that you don't know or are unsure about and edit or add to your own personal list as necessary:

AGGETTIVI DI PERSONALITÀ*

*again, all the adjectives are in the feminine, because "persona" is a feminine noun
—also, masculine forms get enough attention as far as I'm concerned! 
(See the Cultural Note at the bottom of this post!)

allegra

cheerful

amichevole

friendly

ansiosa

anxious

arguta

sharp/witty

arrogante

arrogant

assennata

sensible/level-headed

audace

audacious/bold

calma

calm

cattiva

mean/bad

codarda

cowardly

compiacente

obliging/eager to please

comprensiva

understanding

coraggiosa

courageous

decisa

decisive

diligente

diligent

disobbediente

disobedient

disonesta

dishonest

dispettosa

mischievous

distaccata

detached

divertente

fun

dolce

sweet

educata

well-mannered

elegante

refined/graceful

emotiva

emotional

estroversa

extroverted

felice

happy

forte

strong

fredda

cold

gelosa

jealous

generosa

generous

gentile

kind

impacciata

clumsy

impaziente

impatient

impulsiva

impulsive

infelice

unhappy

intelligente

intelligent

introversa

introverted

lunatica

moody

maleducata

rude/ill-mannered

mite

mild-mannered/gentle

modesta

modest

noiosa

boring

obbediente

obedient

onesta

honest

ottimista
(invariable)

optimistic

ottusa

obtuse/dumb

paziente

patient

permalosa

sensitive/touchy

pessimista

(invariable)
pessimistic

pigra

lazy

premurosa

caring/thoughtful

presuntuosa

presumptuous

prudente

prudent/cautious

ribelle

rebellious

sbadata

scatterbrained/careless

scettica

skeptical

scherzosa

joking/playful

scontrosa

surly

scortese

impolite/unkind

sensibile

sensitive

seria

serious

sgarbata

rude

snob 
(invariable)

snobbish

spigliata

self-assured

spregiudicata

unscrupulous/unprejudiced

tetra

gloomy/glum

timida

shy

vanitosa

vain

Looking at your list of adjectives, practice saying them aloud and in full sentences. Starting with the formula from above:

Sono una persona …

…emotiva e permalosa.

...onesta e pigra.

(Just for examples!)

Masculine vs. Feminine Adjectives

Just as in English, it is possible to say 'I am' and then launch into the adjectives without saying 'a person.' In Italian, however, this means that you will have to be aware of your gender, as well as the gender of your adjectives. If you're female, then you can use all of the adjectives in the form given above. If you're male, however, you will have to switch your adjectives to the masculine form. 

In most cases, if the adjective ends in "a", you change the ending to an "o", as in:

Sono …

…tetra e lunatica. (female)

…tetro e lunatico. (male)

In most cases, if the adjective ends in "e", it remains the same for male and female.

Sono …

…sensibile e scortese. (male or female)

The verb "Essere - to be"

In the above examples, we see the question in the "tu" or "you" (informal) form: 

Come sei tu?

And the answer in the "io" or "I form":

Sono una persona...

It is, of course, possible to talk about the personalities of other people as well. For this, you will need to know the other forms of the verb ESSERE:

So, following this chart, we could say..

(io) Sono… comprensiva.

(tu) Sei… comprensiva.
(lui) È… comprensivo.
(lei) È… comprensiva.
(Lei) È… comprensivo/a.

(noi) Siamo… comprensivi.*

(voi) Siete… comprensivi.*
(loro) Sono… comprensivi.*

Tutto il mondo è comprensivo!

The whole world is understanding!

*Notice how the adjective ending changed?  That's because noi, voi, and loro are PLURAL forms and so require also PLURAL adjectives. Not sure about pluralization rules?  Check out: Pluralization

For additional practice, think of people in your life and use the adjectives above to describe them.

—Com'è tua madre?
—Mia madre è…

—Com'è il tuo amico?
—Il mio amico è…

—Come sono i tuoi professori?
—I miei professori sono… 

Hai capito? (Got it?)  

"Like" Via Optimae on Facebook and share your own personality descriptions!

Ciao! Mi chiamo Alex e sono una persona 
cattiva e dispettosa

 (o forse solo scherzosa!)

or maybe just a jokester!

Come sei tu?

Buono studio!

CULTURE: Gender & Addressing a group
In general, you use masculine forms to address men and feminine forms to address women, but what if you're addressing a mixed group?  Well, in that case, the masculine form wins out. Even if there are three hundred women and just one man— the grammar books say that you should use the masculine.

I watched a television series recently in which they played with this idea.  The boss of a women's magazine frequently addresses her employees using feminine forms, much to the dismay of the lone male employee.   He cites grammar rules as justification for why she should use masculine forms, but this only drives her character to use the feminine with more gusto.  This shows how changing gender roles can affect longstanding linguistic rules—or at least how those rules can be used as fodder for comedy in a television series! {I'm on the lookout for the clip and will post it if I find it— From what I remember, it's pretty funny!}

Potrebbero interessarti…

ITALIAN: Beginners Series:

  (1) How Italian verbs work, (Intro to verbs & grammar terms)

  (2) Italian present tense: -ARE verbs

  (3) Italian present tense: -ERE verbs

  (4) Italian present tense: -IRE verbs

  (5) La negazione - Negation

  (6) Ogni quanto? Quante volte? (Describing 'how often'/ how many times)
  (7) C'è & Ci sono  (There is | There are)

ITALIAN: The Basics Series:
  (1) Indefinite Articles (How to say "A/AN" in Italian
  (2) Definite Articles (singular)
  (3) Pluralization
  (4) Definite Articles (plural)
  (5) The Partitive Article

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C'è , Ci sono…

(There is  ,  There are... in Italian)

You're lounging on a boat… gently cruising through the crystal blue waters of the Mediterranean, taking in the many sights and sounds of the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily.  You decide to write a letter describing everything you see. 

image via Turismo Eolie

It's all so beautiful, that only poetic Italian will do, and you start by telling of the volcano in the distance:

"There is… There is…" 

Hmm.  Maybe you'll start with the boats you see behind you?

"There are… There are…"

"Ah! If only I'd studied 'There is' and 'There are' in Italian!" you think to yourself.

You wake suddenly and realize you're not on a boat in the Mediterranean and that knowing "There is" or "There are" isn't the only thing standing between you and poetic greatness in any language.

Still, you're reading an Italian lesson and that's a good start! So you decide to seize the day and learn these invaluable forms so that no matter where you find yourself, you can describe your surroundings in beautifully poetic Italian.

To talk about what there is/there are… Italian uses the pronoun CI and the third person forms of the verb ESSERE:

As you can see, when ci and è are used together, they get contracted into c'è.  C'è (there is) is used when talking about just one thing:

C'è un vulcano.

There is a volcano.

And ci sono (there are) is used when talking about more than one thing:

Ci sono tre barche. 

There are three boats. 

It isn't always necessary to specify the exact number, as long as it's plural, you use Ci sono…

Ci sono barche. 

There are boats. 

Ci sono tante barche. 

There are so many boats. 

Ci sono delle barche.* 

There are some boats. 

Related lessons:

Pluralization, talking about more than one thing… 
* The Partitive Article, how to say "some"

Negation:

You can also add the negation word "Non" before each to describe what isn't there:

Non c'è un vulcano. 

There isn't a volcano.

Non ci sono barche. 

There aren't any boats.

In Questions:

C'è un gatto?

Is there a cat?

No, non c'è un gatto.

No, there isn't a cat.

Quanti gatti ci sono?

How many cats are there?

Ci sono due gatti.

There are two cats.

Ci sono gatti?

Are there cats?

C'è un solo gatto.

There is only one cat.

---

Putting it all to use:

Take a look around where you currently find yourself and practice describing what there is….

C'è un computer. Ci sono libri.

There is a computer. There are books.  

Or instead of just listing, you can ask and then answer your own questions, like: 

(1) Che cosa c'è?
What is there?

C'è un computer. 

There is a computer.

Ci sono dei* libri. 

There are some books.

* Review the The Partitive Article or how to say "some", if desired, or just exclude the partitive and say "Ci sono libri — There are books"

(2) Quanti* [       ] ci sono? (How many [    ] are there?)
*If the noun is feminine, it becomes Quante

C'è un solo computer. 

There is only one computer.

Ci sono quattro libri. 

There are four books.

If you're missing the vocabulary or just want to be reminded— try using Via Optimae's free label pages to label a wide variety of items around your home and use them as a basis for practicing all of the above!

More practice:
Try describing what you see in this picture (another beautiful island off of Sicily— Pantelleria)  Not sure about the vocabulary?  Mouse over the green dots to see words displayed in Italian and English!

---

Hai capito? (Got it?)  

"Like" Via Optimae on Facebook and post your own photos and descriptions of "Che c'è" (What is there?) in your surroundings!

For written practice, print the C'è | Ci sono worksheet on page 14 of the Beginner's Italian Workbook and fill-in both the "notes" section and the quick exercises that follow! 

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{Additional practice:  The final exercise of the Partitive Article Worksheet features C'è and Ci sono and can be found on page 15 of the Italian Basics digital workbook} 

Happy Studying / Daydreaming! 

These final weeks of summer and my mind is on Italian island hopping.  Check out Conde Nast Traveller's Guide to the Aeolian Islands for your own travel inspiration!

Panarea, Isole Eolie

All lessons in the Beginner's Italian series:

  (1) How Italian verbs work, (Intro to verbs & grammar terms)

  (2) Italian present tense: -ARE verbs

  (3) Italian present tense: -ERE verbs

  (4) Italian present tense: -IRE verbs 

  (5) La negazione - Negation
  (6) Ogni quanto? Quante volte? (Adverbs of frequency)
  (7) C'è & Ci sono — CURRENT PAGE

Potrebbe pure interessarti….

ITALIAN: The Basics Series, starting with:
(01) Indefinite Articles (How to say "A/AN" in Italian