MASCULINE-FEMININE
Nouns are divided
into two categories: MASCULINE and FEMININE. Each NOUN
belongs to one of these categories.
In some cases the
GENDER of a noun, whether MASCULINE OR FEMININE is rather
obvious: DONNA (woman) is FEM., while UOMO (man) is MASC.
In the majority of
cases the gender is assigned in what seems an arbitrary
way (often it depends on the original gender in Latin or
Greek, but let's not get too technical). Thus MELA (apple)
is FEM. and MELO (appletree) is MASC. It is important to
know the GENDER of each noun because this determines the
form of other elements, such as PRONOUNS and ADJECTIVES.
You can look up
the GENDER in an Italian or bilingual dictionary: next to
each NOUN you will find a (m.) or (f.).
There are a few
simple 'rules' to help you remember the GENDER of a noun:
1) a nound ending
with - A is generally FEMININE
2) a noun ending
with - O is generally MASCULINE
Unfortunately for
the numerous nouns ending with - E there is no hard and
fast 'rule'. ThusLEZIONE (lesson) is FEM. but GENITORE (parent)
is MASC.
As we procede with
the course you will learn a few tricks that will make it
easier to remember the correct gender of nouns.
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