Italian Grammar Bank

ITALIAN SINGULAR NOUNS

It is possible to recognise the gender of an Italian noun from the final vowel.

Nouns that end with the singular vowel O are generally masculine, while nouns that end with the singular vowel A are generally feminine.

However, there are exceptions and variations you need to know about.

SINGULAR DEFINITE ARTICLES

In Italian, there are 7 definite articles, that all correspond to the English “the”. The articles for singular nouns are the following:

ILLOLAL’

“IL” and “LO” are for masculine nouns, “LA” is for feminine nouns and the last one, “L’”, is for both. There are some rules to use them correctly.

RULES

➡️ If the noun is feminine, the article is la:

La casaThe house
La pennaThe pen
La matitaThe pencil
La sediaThe chair
La personaThe person

➡️ If the first letter is a vowel or an h (because it’s silent and the next letter will be a vowel), the article is always l’.

L’alberoThe tree
L’apeThe bee
L’uovoThe egg
L’occhioThe eye
L’hotelThe hotel

➡️Most of masculine nouns in Italian require il as article when singular:

Il libroThe book
Il cuscinoThe pillow
Il divanoThe sofa
Il quadernoThe notebook
Il GiardinoThe garden

➡️However, sometimes, the article for masculine nouns can also be lo, when the noun starts with:

PATTERN

z, gn, ps, s + consonant, x, y

Lo zioThe uncle
Lo gnomoThe gnome
Lo psicologoThe psychologist
Lo scoiattoloThe squirrel
Lo statoThe state
Lo xilofonoThe xylophone
Lo yogurtThe yogurt

Nouns in Italian, however, do not always end in –o or in –a, but also in -e and you might need a dictionary to tell its gender.

There is no precise rule for knowing when the gender of names ending with the letter E is feminine and masculine, but in case of doubt we can use this technique:

➡️ if nouns end in -ORE they are masculine, if they end in -ZIONE they are feminine, if they end in -TUDINE they are feminine. Let us see some examples:

Il motoreThe engine
Il rumoreThe noise
La stazioneThe station
La solitudineLoneliness

In some cases, when a noun ends -e, in the only way to tell the gender of the noun is the article.

Let us see some examples to clarify:

uomodonna
Nipote (nephew/niece)Mio nipote ha 5 anni.Mia nipote ha 5 anni.
Preside (headmaster)Il preside ha deciso così.La preside ha deciso così.
Insegnante (teacher)Un nuovo insegnante di…Una nuova insegnante…
Cantante (singer)Il nuovo cantante ha una voce bellissima.La nuova cantante ha una voce bellissima.

Also, there are many nous that can be both masculine and feminine, if the person in question is a man or a woman, and, once again, the article tells us the gender.

Il / La custodecustodian  
Il / La giudicejudge 
Il / La artistaartist  
Il / La specialistaspecialist  
Il / La giornalistajournalist  
Il / La negozianteshopkeeper  
Il / La atletaathlete 
Il / La dentistadentist
Il / La collegacolleague  
Il / La terapeutatherapist

EXCEPTIONS

Italian is a language full of exceptions and there are many cases where we could be misled by the ending of a noun: we might believe a noun to be feminine because it ends in -a but we see the article il.

➡️ Some words may be truncated but when we assign the article we must have the whole word in mind.

Words such as cinema [cinema], auto [car], foto [photo], are not whole words and when we use them, we must instead have in our mind cinematografo, automobile, fotografia.

Therefore, the articles are:

IL cinema

L’auto

LA foto

➡️ All words of Greek origin, despite their ending in -a, are mostly masculine.

IL problemaThe problem
IL SistemaThe system
IL fonemaThe phoneme
IL drammaThe drama
IL climaThe climate
IL telegrammaThe telegram

➡️ Words that refer to a man, independently from their ending, are always masculine:

IL papàThe dad
IL papaThe pope
IL poetaThe poet

➡️ The Italian words ending in -i are mostly feminine:

L’analisiThe analysis
LA crisiThe crisis
L’ipotesiThe hypothesis

➡️ Also, if the word ends in –sione and –zione, then it is feminine. These nouns are easy because they are very similar to English, with the Latin ending -tio(ne) that in English is –tion and in Italian is converted to –zione.

LA televisioneThe television
LA stazioneThe production
LA produzioneThe station
L’azioneThe action

MASCULINE & FEMININE

Let us now see what the rules are for switching the gender of nouns from masculine to feminine.

As we have seen at the beginning, male nouns ending with the vowel O change to the vowel A.

BAMBINO BAMBINA Child
RAGAZZO RAGAZZA Boy/girl

Masculine nouns ending with the vowel E change to feminine in two ways:

➡️ by changing the vowel E for the vowel A such as

CAMERIERE CAMERIERA Waiter / waitress
INFERMIERE INFERMIERA Nurse

➡️ or by changing the vowel E for the letters –ESSA as

STUDENTE STUDENTESSA Student
PROFESSORE PROFESSORESSA Professor

➡️ Masculine nouns ending in the singular with the letters –TORE form the feminine with the letters –TORA as

PASTORE PASTORA Pastor 
IMPOSTORE IMPOSTORA Impostor

➡️ or can form the feminine with the letters –TRICE

SCRITTORE SCRITTRICE Writer 
ATTORE ATTRICE Actor / actress

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FAQs

How can I tell if a singular noun is masculine or feminine in Italian?

Generally, nouns ending in -o are masculine, while those ending in -a are feminine.

There are exceptions, so learning specific endings and memorizing exceptions can help.

Are there any Italian nouns with irregular gender endings?

Yes, some nouns don’t follow the typical -o or -a ending rule. For example, mano (hand) is feminine, and poeta (poet) is masculine, despite their endings.

Do nouns ending in -e have a specific gender in Italian?

Nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine. For example, fiore (flower) is masculine, while notte (night) is feminine.

The gender often has to be memorized or checked in a dictionary.

Why is it important to know the gender of nouns in Italian?

Knowing the gender of nouns is essential for correct article and adjective agreement, as these must match the gender and number of the noun they modify.

Are there any clues that indicate the gender of an Italian noun?

es, certain suffixes can help. For instance, nouns ending in -zione or -tudine are typically feminine, while those ending in -ore are usually masculine.

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