A1/A2 - nouns

Question 1

All nouns have a gender, what are the 2 genders?

Answer 1

• masculine
• feminine

Question 2

What kind of nouns are usually masculine?

Answer 2

• male human beings e.g. Attore (actor)
• collective nouns of male and male/female human beings e.g. Bambini (boys)
• some animals e.g. Topo (mouse)
• some things e.g. Sasso (stone)

Question 3

What kind of nouns are usually feminine?

Answer 3

• female human beings e.g. Attrice (actress)
• collective nouns of female human beings e.g. Bambine (girls)
• some animals e.g. Volpe (fox)
• some things e.g. Pietra (stone)

Question 4

What is the basic rule regarding the gender of Italian nouns?

Answer 4

The basic rule is that masculine singular nouns end with -o, feminine singular nouns end with -a.

e.g. Uomo (man) is masculine.

Donna (woman) is feminine.

Question 5

How are plurals generally formed for Italian nouns?

Answer 5

In Italian, nouns are pluralized by a change in the last vowel.

e.g. [Il] programma (program, masculine). Plural: [i] programmi.

Question 6

How are nouns ending in -a pluralized?

Answer 6

Nouns ending with -a are pluralized with -e if feminine (most common) or with -i if masculine.

e.g. programma (program, masculine). Plural: [i] programmi.

[La] signora (mrs, feminine). Plural [Le] signora (mrs, feminine)

Question 7

How are nouns ending in -e or -o pluralized?

Answer 7

Nouns ending with -e or -o are pluralized with -i.

e.g. [La] canzone (song, feminine). Plural: [le] canzoni.

[Il] cane (dog, masculine). Plural: [i] cani.

Question 8

How are nouns ending with a stressed vowel, with -i or -u or with a consonant pluralized?

Answer 8

They are invariant.

e.g. [La] virtù (virtue, feminine). Plural: [le] virtù.

Question 9

What sometimes happens when pluralizing Nouns ending with i+vowel ?

Answer 9

In some cases the i in the plural is missed out

e.g. Doccia (shower, fem.). Plural: docce

Question 10

What sometimes happens when pluralizing nouns ending with -co, or -go ?

Answer 10

Nouns ending with -co, -go can have plurals ending with -chi, -ghi.

e.g. Amico (friend, masc.). Plural: amici

Gioco (game, masc.). Plural: giochi