G 1.3 – Il nome singolare
G1.3 – Il nome al singolare – Singular noun
As a general rule
- nouns ending in-o are masculine and ending in -a are feminine.
- Esempio: il gatto and la pizza
- Nouns ending in -e can be masculine or feminine.
- Esempio: il cane (m.) la carne (f.)
Tips: If you don’t know the gender of a noun ending in -e:
- Look it up in the dictionary like wordreference.com
Close to the noun you can find the acronym
nf (nome femminile = feminine noun) or
nm (nome maschile = masculine noun)
As in the image below:
2. Check for clues in the text and use articles to determine the gender and number of the noun as follow:
| Maschile | Femminile | ||
| Singolare
il, lo, un, uno |
Plurale
i, gli |
Singolare
la ,l’, una, un’ |
Plurale
le |
From masculine to feminine
| Maschile | It becomes… | Femminile | ||
| Ending | Example | Ending | Example | |
| – o | gatto | – a | gatta | |
| – e | signore | – a | signora | |
| – tore | attore | -trice | attrice | |
| – a | poeta | – essa | poetessa | |
| – ente | studente | -essa | studentessa | |
| – ore | professore | – essa | professoressa | |
| – o | avvocato | – essa | avvocatessa | |
Irregular forms
In the chart below you can find the most common irregular forms. Take your time memorizing it and make sure to come back to this chart for reference.
| Nouns in the following categories are generally masculine | Nouns in the following categories are generally feminine | ||
| Mountains, lakes and seas, rivers | il Lago di Garda
il Monte Bianco l’Oceano Atlantico il Mare Adriatico il fiume Po |
Continents, nations, island, regions, cities: | l’Europa
l’Italia la Sardegna La Lombardia (la città di) Roma
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Months Days
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un aprile
il lunedì, il martedì, il mercoledì, il giovedì, il venerdì, il sabato |
Days | la domenica (exception) |
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Some nouns ending with –a are exceptions and are masculine, like: |
il pigiama – pijama il pianeta – planet il clima – climate il sistema – system il problema – problem il poeta – poet il cinema* (il cinematografo) – movie theater *This is abbreviated from its original form. |
Some nouns ending in -o are exceptions and are feminine, like: |
la mano – hand la metro * (la metropolitana) – subway l’auto * (l’ automobile) – car la foto* – (la fotografia) – photo la radio* (la radiofonia) – radio la moto* (la motocicletta) – motorcycle *These words are abbreviated from their original forms. |
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Nouns ending with a consonant are foreign words and the gender varies:
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Nouns ending in -zione / -sione – à /ù are always feminine
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The following exercises are not graded, you can complete them to practice while you study. Please go to Canvas/Assignments to complete your graded activities.
