Gender

Every Italian noun is either masculine or feminine, even for things like books and houses. A noun’s gender decides which article and which adjective endings go with it, so it’s worth learning each noun together with its article.

Masculine -o, Feminine -a

The ending of a noun is usually a good clue to its gender.

• Nouns ending in -o are usually masculine: il libro - the book, il ragazzo - the boy, il giorno - the day.
• Nouns ending in -a are usually feminine: la casa - the house, la ragazza - the girl, la vita - life.

These two patterns cover most nouns, but not all of them, so it still pays to learn the article with each noun.

Nouns Ending in -e

Nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine. The ending gives no clue, so learn the article with the noun.

• Masculine: il padre - the father, il nome - the name, il cuore - the heart, il mese - the month
• Feminine: la madre - the mother, la notte - the night, la voce - the voice, la chiave - the key

Helpful Endings

• Nouns ending in -ore are almost always masculine: l’amore - love, il colore - the color, il dolore - pain.
• Nouns ending in -zione and -sione are feminine: la situazione - the situation, la decisione - the decision.

Common Exceptions

Some everyday nouns break the -o and -a patterns.

• la mano - the hand (feminine, ends in -o)
• la foto - the photo (short for fotografia, so feminine)
• il problema - the problem (masculine, ends in -a)
• il programma - the program (masculine)
• il sistema - the system (masculine)
• il papà - dad (masculine)

Nouns ending in an accented -tà are feminine: la città - the city, la verità - the truth. Words borrowed from English are usually masculine: il film - the movie, il bar - the café.

Articles Match the Noun

The words for "the" and "a" change with the gender of the noun.

Each article also has other forms, chosen by the first letters of the next word, as in lo zio (the uncle), l’amica (the friend) and un’idea (an idea). The Articles guide covers them all.

Adjectives Match Too

Adjectives agree with their noun in gender and number. How many forms an adjective has depends on its ending.

• Adjectives ending in -o have four forms: alto, alta, alti, alte (tall).
• Adjectives ending in -e have one form for both genders in the singular and one in the plural: grande, grandi (big).

Examples:

• un ragazzo alto - a tall boy
• una ragazza alta - a tall girl
• un libro grande - a big book
• una casa grande - a big house
• case grandi - big houses

Male and Female Forms for People

Nouns for people often have a masculine and a feminine form, so the word matches the person.

• l’amico, l’amica - the friend
• il bambino, la bambina - the child
• il nonno, la nonna - the grandfather, the grandmother
• il dottore, la dottoressa - the doctor
• l’attore, l’attrice - the actor, the actress
• l’autore, l’autrice - the author

Some nouns have one form for both, and only the article shows the gender: il cantante, la cantante - the singer.

Mixed Groups

When a group includes both males and females, Italian uses the masculine plural.

• gli amici - the friends (all male, or a mixed group)
• le amiche - the friends (all female)
• i figli - the sons, or the children (sons and daughters)
• i nonni - the grandparents

The same goes for adjectives: Marco e Anna sono stanchi. - Marco and Anna are tired.

Pronouns: He, She, They

In everyday Italian, the subject pronouns are:

• lui - he
• lei - she
• loro - they (for both genders)

There is no subject pronoun for "it". Just leave it out: È bello. - It’s beautiful.

You may see egli (he), ella (she), essi and esse (they) in older books and formal writing, but people don’t use them in conversation.