In this article Dutch adjectives are examined and compared with Italian adjectives. It is argued that the Dutch adjectival class forms a more clear-cut, separate word class than in Italian. Indeed, Dutch adjectives share more prototypical properties than Italian adjectives do and the Dutch language has a larger amount of primary adjectives. In Italian the distinction between the noun and adjective class is very fuzzy, with many adjectives taking over forms and functions of the noun class. In both languages verbal participles switch to adjectival functions, but the Italian participles remain more verb-like, due also to their postnominal position.
