Help sought from anyone fluent in Italian.
 

I'm a newspaper editor. My food columnist has submitted a column with the word "risottos" in it. Is the plural "risotti"? <BR> <BR>BTW, the word "garnis" also appears. Is "garni" already plural? <BR> <BR>Thanks for any and all help.

Guy: <BR> <BR>Yes, the correct plural of "risotto" is "risotti". <BR> <BR>"Garni" is French, its plural being "garnis". It means garnished and, apart from its literal meaning, is frequently used to denote a hotel without restaurant but serving continental breakfast. <BR> <BR>Hope this helps <BR> <BR>Phil.

good rule of thumb nouns ending in a or o are converted to the plural form by changing the ending vowel to i ie moulti risotti

Actually, Peter, you may have hopped ab it too fast. In Italian, nouns ending in E and o are normally made plurally by replacing the E or o with an i. (These are masculine nouns.) <BR> <BR>Italian nouns ending in a, feminine generally, are made plural by changing the a to and e.

Thanks. Knew I'd come to the right place.

Yes, risotti is plural of risotto. As for garni, the plural would be garnis assuming the item it's modifying is masculine. If the columnist erred in saying garni instead of garnie (for a feminine adjective), then the plural would be garnies. <BR>As an editor myself, though, I wonder if it isn't getting rather too complicated to reproduce the foreign language endings. I think I'd try to find a way around the problem, for example, by referring to "multiple risotto dishes" or _____ with its garnish." Of course, without knowing the precise context, I can't be sure this is a workable suggestion.

ed thanks for the correction. i tryed to answer the thread as i was going out the door in too much of a hurry and without complete thought. my answer was not complete enough. glad you caught it