Learn Italian: A Guide To Learning The Basics of A New Language (2015)
Chapter 16. Nouns
Nouns are words used to identify or name people, places, things, animals, or ideas. Italian nouns have gender and number and their modifiers must change their forms to agree with the nouns they are modifying. Nouns can appear as a subject, object of a preposition, or object of a verb.
Gender
There are only two genders in the Italian language – the masculine and the feminine. One of the ways to identify the gender of a noun is by examing its ending.
1. As a general rule, in Italian, most nouns that end in –o are masculine.
Examples:
Il museo |
the museum |
Il tavolo |
the table |
il libro |
the book |
il corpo |
the body |
il suono |
the sound |
il cielo |
the sky |
There are exceptions to this rule, however. Some nouns that end in –o are feminine:
la radio |
the radio |
la biro |
the pen |
la mano |
the hand |
The noun l'eco is feminine in the singular form but masculine in the plural from.
There are a few feminine nouns that end in –o due to the shortering done on the word and are thus considered feminine:
la foto from la fotografia |
the picture |
l'auto from the l'automobile |
the car |
la moto from la motocicletta |
the motorbike |
2. Majority of nouns that end in –a are feminine
Examples:
la città |
the city |
la pizza |
the pizza |
la sedia |
the chair |
la penna |
pen |
la finestra |
the window |
Exceptions:
Nouns that end in –ma are all masculine.
Examples:
il tema |
the theme |
il panorama |
the panorama |
il problema |
the problem |
il fantasma |
the ghost |
il clima |
the climate |
il cinema |
the cinema |
il programa |
the program |
Some proper nouns that end in –a like Nicola and Andrea are masculine.
Nouns that end in –cida and –ista as well as nouns ending in –a of Greek origin are either masculine or feminine depending on the context.
Examples:
atleta |
athlete |
turista |
tourist |
suicida |
suicide |
giornalista |
journalist |
artista |
artist |
pianist |
pianist |
il colega |
collegue |
3. As a general rule, nouns that end in –e may be masculine or feminine
Examples:
la luce |
the light |
il dente |
the tooth |
il bicchiere |
the glass |
la mente |
the mind |
la nube |
the cloud |
la nave |
the ship |
However, take note of the following rules:
All nouns that end in –ie are feminine
Examples:
la specie |
the kind |
La superficie |
the surface |
Nouns that end in –ore are masculine.
Examples:
il fattore |
the farmer |
il colore |
the color |
il motore |
the engine |
il autore |
author |
Nearly all nouns that end in –udine, -ite, -ione, -ice, and –igine are feminine.
Examples:
la altitudine |
the height |
la lite |
the quarrel |
la visione |
the vision |
la nazione |
the nation |
la decisione |
the decision |
la pittrice |
the painter |
l'origine |
the origin |
Most nouns that end in –ale, -ile, -ame, and –ere are masculine.
Examples:
il giornale |
the newspaper |
il canile |
the kennel |
il canale |
the channel |
Il pollame |
the poultry |
Il rame |
the copper |
Il potere |
the power |
Il barile |
the barrel |
4. All nouns that end in -tù and -tà are feminine.
Examples:
la servitú |
the slavedom |
la gioventù |
the youth |
la virtú |
the virtue |
la gioventù |
the youth |
la felicità |
the happiness |
5. Most nouns that end in –i are feminine
Examples:
la sintesi |
the synthesis |
l'analisi |
the analysis |
la crisi |
the crisis |
However, nouns like il safari (the safari), il brindisi (the toast), and other less used nouns are masculine.
6. Nouns that end in a consonant are, in general, of foreign origin and are masculine.
Examples:
lo sport |
the sport |
il toast |
the toast |
il bar |
the bar |
il film |
the film |
il computer |
the computer |
However, la star (the star), la holding (the holding), and other less used nouns are feminine.
Gender of nouns may also be established by what the noun is representing.
1. Names of seas and lakes are masculine.
Examples:
il Pacifico |
the Pacific |
il Tirreno |
the Tyrrhenian |
2. Sciences are feminine.
Examples:
la biologia |
the biology |
la matematica |
the math |
3. Cities are feminine.
Examples:
Roma è una città romantic. |
Rome is a romantic city. |
4. Names of chemical elements and metals are masculine.
Examples:
l'oro |
gold |
il cesio |
cesium |
l'argento |
silver) |
5. Names of trees are masculine in general.
Examples:
il pero |
the pear tree |
Il melo |
the apple tree |
Il ciliegio |
the cherry tre |
However, some trees are feminine, including la palma (the palm tree), la vite (the grapevine), and la quercia (the oak tree).
Forming Feminine Nouns
Nouns that refer to a man are masculine while nouns that refer to a woman are feminine nouns. The same is true with the gender of animals. In general, a noun’s basic form is masculine and it has to be changed into a feminine form whenever it is used to refer to a female animated beings.
Some nouns form the feminine by changing the noun ending of the masculine form while some nouns have a completely different feminine form. In addition, there are nouns that never change regardless of the gender.
Forming the feminine by varying the ending
For nouns that end in –o, the feminine is formed by replacing the –o with –a.
Examples:
il gatto (male cat) |
la gatta (female cat) |
il amico (male friend) |
la amica (female friend) |
il figlio (son) |
la figlia(daughter) |
il zio (uncle) |
la zia (aunt) |
il bambino (little boy) |
la bambina (little girl) |
For masculine nouns ending in –a, the feminine noun is formed by replacing –a with
–essa.
Examples:
il duca (duke) |
la duchessa (duchess) |
il poeta (male poet) |
la poetessa (female poet) |
Masculine nouns that end in –e are changed into the feminine form by either replacing the ending with –a or dropping the –e ending and adding the suffix –essa.
Examples:
il signore (mister) |
la signora (mistress) |
il principe (prince) |
la principessa (the princess) |
il cassiere (male cashier) |
la cassiera (female cashier) |
il padrone (master) |
la padrona (house mistress) |
Most nouns that end in –tore form their feminine by replacing the suffix tore with -trice while some nouns replace the suffix with –tora.
Examples:
il direttore (director) |
la direttrice (the directress) |
Il pastore (shepherd) |
la pastora (shepherdress) |
il pattore (male painter) |
la pittrice (female painter) |
Nouns with totally different masculine and feminine forms
Some nouns derive their masculine and feminine gender forms from different roots and differ in form:
Examples:
il fratello (brother) |
la sorella (sister) |
il padrino (godfather) |
la madrina (godmother) |
el re (king) |
la regina (queen) |
il marito (husband) |
la moglie (wife) |
il maschio (male) |
la femmina (female) |
il padre (father) |
la madre (mother) |
il frate (friar) |
la suora (nun) |
il uomo (man) |
la donna (woman) |
il cane (dog) |
la cagna (bitch) |
Nouns with the same masculine and feminine form or Epicene Gender
Some nouns have one form to indicate masculine or feminine gender and are modified by the words maschio and femmina to mark the gender:
Examples:
la cicogna maschio |
the male stork |
la cicogna femmina |
the female stork |
l'acquila maschio |
the male eagle |
l'acquila femmina |
the female eagle |
la volpe mascchio |
the male fox |
la volpe femmina |
the female fox |
il serpent maschio |
the male snake |
la serpent femmina |
the female snake |