No conversions (almost)

Eng. is very rich in words that can belong to different grammatical classes - also called "parts of speech": for instance, "play, work, answer, run, type, drive" and a host more can be either verbs or nouns; "round" can be a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a preposition; and so on.

Linguists call this change of grammatical class "conversion". In It. simple conversions are very few: words normally change their form when the move from one grammatical class to another. Eng. "bottle" does not change if it is a n., "a bottle" or a v., "to bottle". In It., the n. "bottiglia" changes into the v. "imbottigliare". Similarly, "answer" corresponds to the v. "rispondere" and to the n. "risposta".

An important exception to this general rule is represented by those adjectives that are used as nouns to express the corresponding abstract quality. See "il giusto prezzo" ( the right/correct price) and "pagare il giusto" ( to pay what is right); "un bell'uomo" ( a handsome/good-looking man) and "amare il bello" ( to love what is beautiful). It. grammarians call them "aggettivi sostantivati".