NOUNS IN ITALIAN (i nomi / sostantivi)
Nouns are the labels we attach to people, animals, things, abstract concepts, actions or facts and that let us distinguish a person, an animal, a thing, etc. from another one.
THE GENDER OF NOUNS IN ITALIAN
All nouns have a Gender. In Italian there are only 2 genders: masculine and feminine. There is no a neuter gender.
Human beings and common domestic animals have a masculine noun if they are male or a feminine one if they are female.
The gender of the rest of the nouns can be often established by ending or by meaning but, as there are so many exceptions, the best thing to do is to learn the noun with the definite article.
A general rule is that nouns ending in “-o” are masculine and those ending in “-a” are feminine. Nouns ending in “-e” can be either masculine or feminine and the only way to know the gender is to learn them with the article.
Examples:
Il tavolo, la sedia, il bicchiere, la voce
As already mentioned above, there are some exceptions:
a) Feminine nouns ending in “-o”;
La moto (motorbike), l’auto (car), la foto (picture), la radio (radio), la mano (hand), l’eco
(echo – but it becomes masculine in the plural)
b) Masculine nouns ending in “-a”;
Il fantasma (ghost), il problema (problem), il pigiama (pajamas), il programma (program), il
clima (climate), il panorama (panorama), lo schema (plan), il tema (theme), il telegramma
(telegram)
c) Nouns ending in “-a”, “-ista” and “-cida” can be either masculine or feminine:
L’atleta (athlete), il/la collega (collegue), il/la suicida (suicide), il/la turista (tourist), il/la
dentista (dentist), il/la tennista (tennis player), lo/la specialista (specialist), l’omicida
(murder)
There are also some other endings that can indicate the gender of a noun:
1. Many nouns ending in “-ione”, “-udine”, “-igine”, “-ice”, “-tà”, “-tù”, “-i”, “-ie are feminine;
Examples:
La soluzione, la solitudine, l’origine, la pittrice, la semplicità, la virtù, la crisi, la specie
2. Many nouns ending in “-ore”, “-ame”, “-ale”, “-ere”, “-ile” are masculine;
Examples:
Il colore, il fattore, il pollame, il rame, il canale, il giornale, il carcere, il potere, il barile, il
fienile
In many cases and only for animated beings, it is possible to form the feminine gender from the masculine.
1. Masculine name ending in “-o” have the feminine form in “-a”;
Examples.
Il reagazzo –> la ragazza
Lo zio –> la zia
2. Masculine name ending in “-e” have the feminine form in “-a”;
Examples:
Il cameriere –> la cameriera
Il parrucchiere –> la parrucchiera
3. Some masculine name ending in “-o” , “-a” , “-e” have the feminine form in “-essa”;
Examples:
L’avvocato –> l’ avvocatessa
Il poeta –> la poetessa
Il professore –> la professoressa
Il conte –> la contessa
4. Some masculine name ending in “-tore” have the feminine form in “-trice”;
Examples:
Lo scultore –> la scultrice
Il vincitore –> la vincitrice
5. Where there is not a feminine noun equivalent, the masculine is used for both the genders or the distinction can be made by placing the word “donna” before the masculine noun.
A similar rule applies to animals where there is only a single noun form and the distinction can be made by placing the word “femmina” or “femmina di +article”.
Examples:
L’ingegnere (masculine) –> L’ingegnere / la donna ingegnere (feminine)
L’aquila maschio / il maschio dell’aquila –> L’aquila femmina / la femmina dell’aquila
6. Finally, there are nouns that have a different form to distinguish the masculine from the feminine:
Examples:
L’uomo –> la donna
Il marito –> la moglie
Il padre –> la madre
Il papà –> la mamma
Il fratello –> la sorella
Il genero –> la nuora
Il re –> la regina
L’eroe –> l’eroina
Il gallo –> la gallina
il bue –>la mucca
Il cane –> la cagna
Il porco –> la scrofa
THE PLURAL OF NOUNS
There are some general rules to make a noun plural:
1. Masculine nouns ending in “-o”, “-a” or “-e” change the ending to “-i”;
Examples:
Il libro –> I libri
Il problema –> I problemi
il sale –> I sali
2. Feminine nouns ending in “-a” change the ending to “-e”;
Examples:
La penna –> Le penne
La mela –> Le mele
3. Feminine nouns ending in “-e” change the ending to “-i”;
Examples:
La nave –> Le navi
L’ape –> Le api
4. Nouns ending in “-ca” and “-ga”, change the ending to “-che” and “-ghe”, if they are feminine, and to “chi” and “ghi” if they are masculine;
Examples:
L’amica –> Le amiche
Il collega –> I colleghi
La collega –> Le colleghe
5. Nouns ending in “cia” and “gia” retain the “i” if it is stressed or the “-cia” or “-gia” is preceded by a vowel. In the other cases the “i” is omitted.
Examples:
La farmacia –> Le farmacie (farmacìa)
La valigia –> Le valigie
La faccia –> Le facce (fàccia)
6. Nouns ending in “-io” retain the “-i” when it is stressed, so they will have a double “i” in the plural;
Examples:
Lo zio –> Gli zii (zìo)
Il negozio –> I negozi (negòzio)
7. Nouns ending in an accented vowel or in a consonant, monosyllabic nouns, nouns ending in “-i” or “-ie” don’t change in the plural. The number is established by the article.
Examples:
La capacità –> Le capacità
Il caffé –> I caffé
L’autobus –> Gli autobus
Lo sport –> Gli sport
Il re –> I re
Lo sci –> Gli sci
La crisi –> Le crisi
L’analisi –> Le analisi
La specie –> La specie
Exceptions:
Some nouns ending in “-ie” in the plural change the ending to “-i”:
La moglie –> Le mogli
La superficie –> Le superfici
L’effigie –> Le effigi
8. Masculine nouns that change the gender to feminine in plural:
Il ginocchio –> Le ginocchia
Il dito –> Le dita
Il labbro –> Le Labbra
L’osso –> Le ossa
L’uovo –> Le uova
Il paio –> Le paia
Il riso –> Le risa (when it means “laugh”)
Il migliaio –> Le migliaia
Il centinaio –> Le centinaia
Il miglio –> Le miglia
9. Irregular plurals:
L’uomo –> Gli uomini
Il dio –> Gli dei
L’arma –> Le armi
L’ala –> Le ali
Il bue –> I buoi
L’eco (feminine) –> Gli echi (masculine)
By Arnaldo Colonna
Learn Italian – Italian for Beginners – nouns in Italian
