italian nouns gender list

There are 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. For the nouns of things (both concrete and abstract) the distinction between genere maschile or genere femminile is purely conventional; only with use over time have words such as abito, fiume, and clima been assigned the masculine gender, while others such as cenere, sedia, crisi have been established as feminine. "Cinema” comes from cinematografo, making it a masculine noun. The goal of learning a foreign language will always be connection instead of perfection. Generally, singular nouns ending in -o are masculine while nouns ending in -a are feminine. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Some examples of masculine nouns include (with the Italian on the left and the English translation on the right): The most important element to look for to determine the gender is the definite article, but you’ll notice that nouns ending in -e may be masculine or feminine. You need to memorize the gender of these nouns. Masculine nouns end with -o for singular, -i for plural (ragazzo – ragazzi); 2. When you start learning Italian grammar, you’ll hear one concept often: Everything in Italian must agree in gender and number. They can either be masculine or feminine, according to the context of the sentence. Michael San Filippo co-wrote The Complete Idiot's Guide to Italian History and Culture. (Those that don’t are most probably foreign in origin.) He is a tutor of Italian language and culture. In these instances, the agreement of words that refer to the noun should take into account the grammatical gender: La sentinella è attenta.The sentinel is attentive. 1. This happens because abbreviated nouns retain the gender of the words from which they are derived. In Italian, the gender of a noun can be maschile (masculine) or femminile (feminine). THE GENDER OF NOUNS IN ITALIAN. The general rule is that nouns ending in “-o” are masculine and nouns ending in “-a” are feminine. Besides experience and consulting the dictionary, there are two elements that can help determine the gender of a noun: the significance and the ending of the word. Although there are some exceptions, the following are the rules that Italian nouns usually follow: 1. Feminine nouns end with -a for singular, -e for plural (ragazza – ragazze); 3. You’ll start to notice that some words that would seem to be feminine—like “cinema” since it ends in an -a—are actually masculine. Unlike English, there are four possible endings instead of English’s one, as shown in these tables: Nouns ending with an accented vowel or a consonant do not change in the plural, nor do abbreviated words, as in these examples: Learning the gender and number of each noun takes practice, so don’t stress if you still make mistakes. All nouns have a Gender. Almost every Italian noun ends with a vowel except some nouns, which come from other languages, and can finish with a consonant. According to the meaning, the following are masculine: According to the meaning, the following are feminine: Depending on the ending, the following are masculine: Nouns ending in -e, unless they belong to certain classes of suffixes (-zione, -tore, -ite), can be either gender: il ponte, l'amore, il fiume, il dente; la mente, la fame, la notte, la chiave. There are a number of exceptions, like il poeta, "the poet," being masculine, but you can stick to the rule above when in doubt. There is a third category of gender-neutral nouns that end with -e for singular and -ifor plural. This can be a strange concept to native English speakers as cars are often not thought of as being feminine (except to car aficionados) and dogs are not thought of as being masculine, like in Italian. Usually: Nouns ending in -o are masculine (m.): prosciutto (ham), ragazzo (boy), armadio (wardrobe), treno (train), tavolo… She also hosts the 30 Minute Italian podcast. In order to know the gender of a noun, you only have to check its ending. Italian nouns almost always end with a vowel. (not arrivati).The recruits arrived. When nouns end with -o, it is usually masculine: 1. il bambino(baby) Some nouns that end with -eare also masculine: 1. il professore(professor) 2. il padre(father) 3. il cane(dog) 4. il pane(bread) 5. il dottore(doctor) An ending of -a can indicate a masculine noun as well. Le reclute sono arrivate. For more details, see our Privacy Policy. In Italian every noun has a gender (masculine or feminine) and a number (singular or plural). Grammatical “gender” is really just a way of classifying nouns. Other common words covered by this rule include those that would seem to be masculine (ending in -o), but are actually feminine because the words from which they are derived are feminine (ending in -a): Similar to English, Italian has a different ending when a noun is singular or plural. This can be a strange concept to native English speakers as cars are often not thought of as being feminine (except to car aficionados) and dogs are not thought of as being masculine, like in Italian. Most Italian nouns end in a vowel—those that end in a consonant are of foreign origin—and all nouns have a gender, even those that refer to a qualities, ideas, and things. nearly all words ending in –a are feminine. In Italian there are only 2 genders: masculine and feminine. Regarding people and animals, the distinction is in relation to sex; nouns of male living beings are masculine: padre (father), scrittore (writer), infermiere (nurse), gatto (cat), leone (lion), while nouns of female living beings are feminine: madre (mother), scrittrice (writer), infermiera (nurse), gatta (cat), leonessa (lioness). There are, in fact, several nouns of the type that, while considered feminine in grammatical gender, denote men: la guardia (guard), la vedetta (sentry), la sentinella (sentry), la recluta (recruit), la spia (spy). NOUNS IN ITALIAN (i nomi / sostantivi) Nouns are the labels we attach to people, animals, things, abstract concepts, actions or facts and that let us distinguish a person, an animal, a thing, etc. Most Italian nouns (i nomi) end in a vowel. Conversely, there are other nouns that refer to women, even though they are grammatically considered the male gender: il soprano, il mezzosoprano, il contralto. The names of metals and chemical elements: The names of the months and days of the week (except Sunday): The names of mountains, seas, rivers, and lakes: The names of the sciences and in general abstract notions: The names of continents, states, regions, cities, and islands.

Toslink To Aux, Hdmi Switch Not Working With Monitor, Les Restos Du Cœur, Where Is Jesus Buried, Ta 1105 Nokia Lcd, Multiple Regression Forecasting Excel, 300 Jumping Jacks A Day, Chocolate Sales By Month, Photoshop Mouse Shortcuts, Darkglass Hyper Luminal Compressor Guitar,