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Adjectives that end in '-a' for both genders, like 'ottimista' and 'belga'

Most Italian adjectives tell you their gender at a glance: alto for a man, alta for a woman. A group of adjectives breaks this habit. Words like ottimista, pessimista, egoista and belga end in -a in the singular whether the noun is masculine or feminine. So you say un uomo ottimista and una donna ottimista, with exactly the same ending.

English speakers trip over this in two ways. Since the -a looks feminine, it feels wrong next to a man, and learners invent forms like ottimisto. Then, once they accept that the word never changes, they forget that it does change in the plural, where the masculine and feminine forms split apart again.

Word list
entusiastamA2 excited plural entusiasti / entusiaste belgamB1 Belgian plural belgi / belghe egoistamB1 selfish plural egoisti / egoiste ottimistamB1 hopeful plural ottimisti / ottimiste pessimistamB2 pessimistic plural pessimisti / pessimiste terroristaB2 terrorist plural terroristi / terroriste comunistamC1 communist plural comunisti / comuniste razzistamC1 racist plural razzisti / razziste socialistamC1 socialist plural socialisti / socialiste analfabetamC2 illiterate plural analfabeti / analfabete capitalistamC2 capitalist plural capitalisti / capitaliste estremistaC2 extremist plural estremisti / estremiste fascistamC2 fascist plural fascisti / fasciste ipocritaC2 hypocrite plural ipocriti / ipocrite populistamC2 populist plural populisti / populiste
How it works

In the singular there is one form for both genders. In the plural, the adjective behaves like a normal adjective: -i for masculine and -e for feminine.

  • un ragazzo ottimista, una ragazza ottimista
  • ragazzi ottimisti, ragazze ottimiste

English adjectives never change, so English gives you no help here. The rule of thumb: in the singular, keep the -a. In the plural, look at the noun and choose -i or -e. Most of these words end in -ista, the Italian equivalent of English -ist. Other common ones you may know, such as realista, idealista, altruista and femminista, work the same way.

Mio padre è pessimista, ma i miei fratelli sono ottimisti.
(My father is pessimistic, but my brothers are optimistic.)
Giulia è sempre ottimista, anche nei momenti difficili.
(Giulia is always optimistic, even in difficult moments.)
The words
Personality and feelings

These are the ones you will use most in everyday conversation: ottimista, pessimista, entusiasta, egoista and ipocrita. Note that ipocrita is not an -ista word, but it follows the same pattern.

I bambini erano entusiasti della gita al mare.
(The children were thrilled about the trip to the seaside.)
Le ragazze sono pessimiste sull'esame di domani.
(The girls are pessimistic about tomorrow's exam.)
Non essere egoista, dai un pezzo di torta a tuo fratello!
(Don't be selfish, give your brother a piece of cake!)
Non mi fido di lui, è un uomo ipocrita.
(I don't trust him, he's a hypocritical man.)
Politics and society

You will meet these in the news: comunista, socialista, capitalista, fascista, populista, razzista and estremista. The pattern is the same: il partito comunista, la dittatura fascista, i paesi capitalisti.

L'Italia ha vissuto vent'anni di dittatura fascista.
(Italy lived through twenty years of fascist dictatorship.)
Ha scritto dei commenti razzisti sotto il video.
(He wrote some racist comments under the video.)
Molti leader populisti promettono soluzioni facili.
(Many populist leaders promise easy solutions.)
Sono idee estremiste e pericolose.
(These are extremist and dangerous ideas.)
In quel paese governa un partito socialista.
(A socialist party governs in that country.)
Two outsiders

Belga and analfabeta don't end in -ista, but they follow the same rule.

Il cioccolato belga è famoso in tutto il mondo.
(Belgian chocolate is famous all over the world.)
All'inizio del Novecento molte donne erano analfabete.
(At the start of the twentieth century many women were illiterate.)
Watch out
No -o form

Ottimisto, egoisto and belgo don't exist. A man is simply ottimista.

Don't freeze the plural

Sono ottimista is fine for one person, but a group is ottimisti or ottimiste, never ottimista.

Mixed groups

As with all adjectives, a mixed group of men and women takes the masculine plural: Marco e Anna sono entusiasti.

The spelling of belga

The masculine plural is belgi, with a soft sound and no h. The feminine plural adds an h to keep the hard sound: belghe. So you have turisti belgi but città belghe.

Not the same as colour words

Colours like rosa and viola also end in -a, but they never change, not even in the plural: le magliette rosa. The words in this article do change in the plural.

Nouns too

Many of these words are also nouns (un comunista, una comunista), and the plural works the same way.

Summary

Adjectives in -ista, plus a few others such as belga, analfabeta and ipocrita, end in -a in the singular for both genders: un uomo ottimista, una donna ottimista. In the plural they split like normal adjectives: -i for masculine and mixed groups, -e for feminine (ottimisti, ottimiste; belgi, belghe).