Gender of Italian Nouns
Masculine or Feminine
Every Italian noun is either masculine or feminine: there is no neuter gender. In most cases you can tell which one from the ending, because nouns ending in -o are usually masculine and nouns ending in -a are usually feminine.
This grammatical gender impacts everything: the articles – both definite and indefinite -, the adjectives, some verb conjugation forms, and the pronouns that follow.
Regular nouns in Italian follow the following patterns:
- Masculine nouns end in -o: for example il libro (the book), il ragazzo (the boy)
- Feminine nouns end in -a, for example la casa (the house), la ragazza (the girl)
Exceptions
Of course, there are some exceptions.
- Some masculine and feminine nouns end in -e: il mare (the sea), il fiore (the flower), and la luce (the light), la chiave (the key).
- The reason for these exceptions lies in the historical development of the Italian language: Italian evolved from Latin, which had a neuter gender that did not carry over into modern Italian. Many neuter nouns were reassigned as masculine or feminine, mainly based on the way they sounded.
- Not all nouns ending in -o are masculine, and not all ending in -a are feminine.
- La mano (the hand) comes from the Latin fourth-declension feminine noun manus. The feminine gender was preserved when the word transitioned into Italian, even though it conflicts with its masculine -o ending.
- Words like la radio or l’auto (the car) are shortened form of longer words (la radiotelefonia or l’automobile) which are feminine words. The gender was preserved when the nouns were shortened, despite their -o ending. The same is true for la foto (from la fotografia) and la moto (from la motocicletta).
- Many words that end in -ma are Greek loanwords that were incorporated into Latin and later Italian. They often retained their original Greek endings and gender, like il problema (the problem), il sistema (the system) and il poema (the poem).
- Many words for people that end in -a are masculine when they refer to a man, like il poeta (the poet), il pilota (the pilot) and il collega (the colleague, male). Il papà (dad) and il pianeta (the planet) are masculine too.
- Foreign words integrated into Italian are typically assigned masculine gender, especially those without a native Italian equivalent, like il weekend (the weekend). If there is a similar association, then the Italian gender is kept, like la chat, associated with la conversazione (the conversation).
Nouns With a Masculine and a Feminine Form
For people and some animals, Italian usually has a masculine and a feminine form:
| Pattern | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| -o becomes -a | il ragazzo (boy), il gatto (male cat) | la ragazza (girl), la gatta (female cat) |
| -tore becomes -trice | l’attore (actor), lo scrittore (writer) | l’attrice (actress), la scrittrice (writer) |
| -e becomes -essa | il professore (professor), lo studente (student) | la professoressa, la studentessa |
| two different words | il padre, il fratello, l’uomo, il marito | la madre, la sorella, la donna, la moglie |
| same word, only the article changes | il turista, il dentista, il cantante | la turista, la dentista, la cantante |
With nouns that keep the same form, the article tells you the gender, and the plural changes it too: i turisti (male or mixed group) and le turiste (all women).
Nouns That Change Meaning With Gender
A few pairs of words are almost identical but have a different meaning depending on the gender:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| il foglio (sheet of paper) | la foglia (leaf) |
| il fine (purpose) | la fine (end) |
| il castagno (chestnut tree) | la castagna (chestnut) |
| il pesco (peach tree) | la pesca (peach) |
| il tavolo (table, the piece of furniture) | la tavola (the table at meals, a board) |
| il porto (port) | la porta (door) |
Nouns That Change Gender in the Plural
A small group of nouns is masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural, with a plural ending in -a: il dito / le dita (finger), il braccio / le braccia (arm), l’uovo / le uova (egg), il paio / le paia (pair). You can find all the rules in the lesson on the plural of nouns and adjectives.
How to Know the Gender of a Noun
There is no method that works every time, but these three habits help:
- Learn the noun with its article. Memorize la chiave, not just chiave.
- Look at the ending. Nouns in -zione and -tà are feminine (la stazione, la città), and nouns in -ore are masculine (il colore). Nouns ending in -e are harder: read the lesson on the gender of nouns ending with -e.
- Check the dictionary. It marks nouns with m (masculine) or f (feminine).
Gender of Italian Adjectives
Masculine or Feminine
As I mentioned before, Italian adjectives must agree in gender with the nouns they describe. This means that an adjective describing a masculine noun must take a masculine form, while an adjective describing a feminine noun must take a feminine form.
Regular adjectives in Italian follow the following patterns:
- Adjectives ending in -o in the masculine singular form change to -a for the feminine singular. For example il ragazzo alto (the tall boy), la ragazza alta (the tall girl).
- In the plural, -o endings change to -i for masculine and -a endings change to -e for feminine: i ragazzi alti (the tall boys), le ragazze alte (the tall girls).
Exceptions
Of course, also here there are some exceptions. But do not worry: once you’ve learned those which apply to nouns, it’ll take no time to understand exceptions that apply to adjectives.
- Some adjectives end in -e in their singular form, regardless of whether they are masculine or feminine, and change to -i in the plural for both genders. It is very common with adjectives describing colors: il fiore verde (the green flower), i fiori verdi (the green flowers), la donna intelligente (the intelligent woman), l’uomo intelligente (the intelligent man).
Agreement in a Sentence
The adjective changes with the noun, whether it comes before or after the verb:
Il ragazzo è alto.
The boy is tall.
La ragazza è alta.
The girl is tall.
I ragazzi sono alti.
The boys are tall.
Le ragazze sono alte.
The girls are tall.
Adjectives That Do Not Change
Some colors do not agree with the noun at all: rosa (pink), viola (purple), blu (dark blue) and beige are invariable.
Una maglia rosa, due maglie rosa.
A pink sweater, two pink sweaters.
Adjectives With Mixed Groups
When an adjective describes both a masculine and a feminine noun, or a group of men and women, use the masculine plural:
Marco e Giulia sono stanchi.
Marco and Giulia are tired.
Past participles used with essere follow the same rule: Marco è uscito, Giulia è uscita. For more adjectives to practise with, see the list of Italian adjectives to describe a person.
Italian Gender: Frequently Asked Questions
Does Italian have a neuter gender?
No. Latin had a neuter gender, but Italian has only masculine and feminine. Some old neuter nouns survive in the plural in -a, like le uova.
How can you tell if an Italian word is masculine or feminine?
Start with the ending: -o is usually masculine and -a is usually feminine. For everything else, learn the word with its article.
Do adjectives change with gender in Italian?
Yes. They agree in gender and number with the noun they describe: alto, alta, alti, alte. Adjectives ending in -e only change for the number: intelligente, intelligenti.
