Nouns Flashcards
What depends on a nouns gender?
how you translate the words for ‘the’ or ‘a’, adjectives, pronouns
Adjectives examples
un abito caro – an expensive suit
una macchina cara – an expensive car
Pronouns examples
Do you want it? is “Lo vuoi?” if you’re offering un gelato (an ice cream),
and “La vuoi?” if you’re referring to una mela
Singular day (giorno)
Giorni- plural
Singular apple is mela, what is the plural form?
Mele
rivoluzione= revolution, what is the plural?
rivoluzioni revolutions
some simple rules that will enable you to work out the gender of a very large number of Italian nouns from their last letter in the singular:
● nearly all words ending in –o are masculine.
● nearly all words ending in –a are feminine.
● nearly all words ending in –à, –sione and –zione are feminine.
● nearly all words ending with a consonant are masculine.
a few very common nouns ending in –o are feminine:
la mano the hand
una foto a photo
la radio the radio
una moto a motorbike
Note that some very common words ending in –a are masculine:
il problema the problem
il programma the programme
il sistema the system
il clima the climate
professions and jobs ending in –ta
Most masculine or feminine, according to whether a male or female is meant.
un giornalista a (male) journalist una giornalista a (female) journalist
un dentista a (male) dentist una dentista a (female) dentist
a difficulty
una difficoltà
The reality
la realtà
The version
la versione
An opportunity
un’occasione(ocaz-e-owney)
A lesson
una lezione
Nouns ending in –e
can be masculine in some cases and feminine in others. E.g.
un mese a month
il mare the sea
la gente the people
la mente the mind
names of languages
Always masculine
Some words have different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine. 1. Il fine vs la fine
Il fine= the objective, la fine= the end
Some words have different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine. Un posto vs la posta
Un posto= a place. La posta= the mail
Un modo vs la moda
Un modo= a way, la moda= the fashion
Il capitale vs una capitale
Il capitale= money, una capitale= a capital city
un bel posto VS posta prioritaria
a nice place (un bel posto) vs first class
there are sometimes very different words for male and female people and animals- man, brother, bull
un uomo a man (wamo)
una donna a woman
un fratello a brother
una sorella a sister
un toro a bull
una mucca a cow
Many Italian nouns ending in –o can be made feminine by changing the ending - cook, boy
to –a. un cuoco a (male) cook una cuoca a (female) cook (kwarkar)
un ragazzo a boy una ragazza a girl
More examples of changing the noun ending to get masculine to feminine
Photographer, italian man, cat
un fotografo a (male) photographer una fotografa a (female) photographer
un italiano an Italian (man) un’italiana an Italian (woman)
un gatto a (tom) cat una gatta a (she) cat
If a noun describing a male ends in –tore, the feminine form ends in
ends in –trice. un attore a (male) actor un’attrice a (female) actor
un pittore a (male) painter . What’s a female painter?
una pittrice a (female) painter (pitreechay)
una scrittrice a (female) writer . What’s a male writer? Scritteechee
uno scrittore
Certain nouns describing males ending in –e have feminine forms ending in –essa. Examples:
il professore the (male) teacher la professoressa the (female) teacher
uno studente a (male) student una studentessa a (female) student
un leone a lion una leonessa a lioness
➤ Many nouns ending in what?? can refer either to males or to females, so there is no change of ending for the feminine.
-a and -e. E.g. un turista a (male) tourist una turista a (female) tourist
un nipote a grandson una nipote a granddaughter
Grammar Extra! A few nouns that are feminine refer both to men and women.
una guida a guide (male or female)
una persona a person (male or female)
una spia a spy (male or female)
una star a star (male or female)
Sean Connery è ancora una star. Sean Connery’s still a star.
