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Masculine/ Feminine

Nouns in Italian are either MASCULINE or FEMININE.

Some nouns have both forms, masculine and feminine. These are usually words that apply to people or animals, in that they refer to their gender.

Ex:      

RAGAZZO boy RAGAZZA girl

BAMBINO  male child BAMBINA  female child

PROFESSORE   male prof. PROFESSORESSA female prof

CAVALLO  horse m CAVALLA   horse f

Most words that describe OBJECTS or CONCEPTS, however, are either masculine or feminine, without a compelling logic.

MASCULINE

LIBRO   book

GIUDIZIO judgment

GIOCO  game

STADIO  stadium

MOST NOUNS ENDING WITH “O” ARE MASCULINE

FEMININE

AULA classroom

SCUOLA  school

IDEA  idea

GIUSTIZIA giustizia

MOST NOUNS ENDING WITH “A” ARE FEMININE

NOUNS ENDING WITH “E” ARE UNPREDICTABLE AND CAN BE EITHER MASC. OR FEM.

You must learn each word and its gender.

MASCULINE

SOLE   sun

AMORE love

CUORE  heart

FIORE  flower

FEMININE

CLASSE class

LEZIONE  lecture

EDUCAZIONE  education

LUCE light

M: sole, amore, cuore

F:  classe, lezione, educazione

PLURAL

Summary chart

O => I

A => E

E => I

• Words ending with “O” (usually masculine words) in the singular, become “I” in the plural.

LIBRO > LIBRI        TAVOLO > TAVOLI           GELATO > GELATI

• Words ending with “A” (usually masculine words) in the singular, become “E” in the plural.

AULA > AULE           SCUOLA > SCUOLE            BAMBINA > BAMBINE

• Words ending with “E” (either M or F) in the singular, become “I” in the plural.

CLASSE > CLASSI               PROFESSORE > PROFESSORI                 LUCE > LUCI

INDEFINITE ARTICLES

• Masculine UN, UNO

UN = before words beginning with vowels and consonants

UNO = before words that begin with “S” followed by a consonant (ex: STudente, STadio, SCambio, SPuto,) and words beginning with “Z” (zero, zaino, zucchero, zenzero)

• Feminine UNA

In front of words beginning with a vowel, ofter UNA becomes  < UN’ > with an apostrophe to indicate that the final letter “A” was dropped (it’s for euphonic  [ good sound ] reasons).

UNA IDEA > UN’IDEA, UNA AMICA > UN’AMICA

INDEFINITE ARTICLES

• Masculine IL, LO, L'

IL = before words beginning with a CONSONANT

LO = before words that begin with “S” followed by a consonant (ex: STudente, STadio, SCambio, SPuto,) and words beginning with “Z” (zero, zaino, zucchero, zenzero)

L'= before words that begin with a VOWEL

• Feminine LA, L'

LA = before words beginning with a CONSONANT

L' = before words that begin with a VOWEL