Centro Studi Italiani ^TM

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N.B.: We use a written accent mark to help students identify word stress and open/closed vowels even though Standard Italian may not require it.

The plural form of feminine words ending in "-cia" or "-gia" does not follow a strict rule. Some words use the  "-cie" ending, some the "-ce" ending, some both. See the following list of examples.  

 

Singular	Plural		English equivalent
bigia	bigie		gray
ciliegia	ciliegie	ciliege	cherry
cupidigia	cupidigie		cupidity
denuncia	denuncie	denunce	denunciation
fràdicia	fradicie	fradice	wet
grigia	grigie	grige	gray
ligia	ligie	lige
pronuncia		pronunce	pronunciation
provincia	provincie	province	province
rinuncia		rinunce	renunciation
sùdicia	sùdicie	sùdice	dirty
valigia	valigie	valige	suitcase

Notice that some feminine nouns use plural form in -cie or -gie in order not to be confused with the singular form in -ce or -ge of a similar adjective or noun. See the following list: 

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