Nouns

Nouns name people, places, things and ideas. In Italian, every noun has a gender, and most nouns make their plural by changing the last vowel instead of adding "-s".

Gender in Brief

Every noun is masculine or feminine, and the ending is a strong clue:

• -o is usually masculine: il libro - the book
• -a is usually feminine: la casa - the house
• -e can be either: il padre - the father, la notte - the night

There are common exceptions, such as la mano (the hand) and il problema (the problem), so learn each noun with its article. The Gender guide has more detail.

Regular Plurals

To make most nouns plural, change the final vowel.

Masculine nouns ending in -a include il problema, il programma and il sistema. Their plural ends in -i, like other masculine nouns.

Nouns That Don’t Change

Some nouns are the same in the singular and the plural. Only the article shows the number.

• Nouns ending in an accented vowel: la città, le città - the city, the cities; il caffè, i caffè - the coffee, the coffees.
• Nouns ending in a consonant, mostly borrowed words: il film, i film - the movie, the movies; l’autobus, gli autobus - the bus, the buses.
• Shortened words: la foto, le foto - the photo, the photos.
• Nouns ending in -i: la crisi, le crisi - the crisis, the crises.

Plurals of -ca and -ga

When you change the ending, keep the hard "k" or "g" sound by adding an h.

• -ca becomes -che: amica, amiche - friend, friends; bocca, bocche - mouth, mouths
• -ga becomes -ghe: riga, righe - line, lines

These always keep the hard sound, with no exceptions to learn.

Plurals of -co and -go

-go

Nouns ending in -go usually become -ghi, keeping the hard "g": lago, laghi - lake, lakes; luogo, luoghi - place, places.

-co

Nouns ending in -co are less regular. When the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable, they usually become -chi:

• gioco, giochi - game, games
• fuoco, fuochi - fire, fires
• parco, parchi - park, parks

When the stress falls earlier, they usually become -ci: medico, medici - doctor, doctors. Learn amico, amici (friend, friends) as a common exception.

Plurals of -cia and -gia

For these endings, look at the letter before c or g.

• After a consonant, drop the i: faccia, facce - face, faces; spiaggia, spiagge - beach, beaches; arancia, arance - orange, oranges.
• After a vowel, keep the i: camicia, camicie - shirt, shirts; valigia, valigie - suitcase, suitcases.

When the i itself is stressed, it always stays: farmacia, farmacie - pharmacy, pharmacies.

Plurals of -io

For nouns ending in -io, check whether the i is stressed.

• Usually it isn’t, so the plural has a single -i: figlio, figli - son, sons; negozio, negozi - store, stores; orologio, orologi - clock, clocks; viaggio, viaggi - trip, trips.
• When the i is stressed, the plural has -ii: zio, zii - uncle, uncles.

Irregular Plurals

A few common nouns have plurals you need to learn by heart.

La mano is feminine but ends in -o, and its plural is mani.

Plurals That Turn Feminine

Some masculine nouns, many of them body parts, have a feminine plural ending in -a. The article changes to le.

Adjectives agree with the feminine plural too: le uova fresche - the fresh eggs.