Italian nouns
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Sign up for freeThe noun (nome, sostantivo) is the part of the speech indicating any abstract or concrete element.
Nouns are always declinable in gender and number.
The article has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to.
Lesson outline
HideMasculine and feminine in Italian nouns
According to gender, we can identify four categories
| Gender and ending | Italian | English |
|---|---|---|
| masculine in - o | l'albero | the tree |
| masculine in - e | il bicchiere | the glass |
| feminine in - a | la scarpa | the shoe |
| feminine in - e | la stampante | the printer |
Italian nouns always have a gender (even animals and things)
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Giorgio L. 
Claudio L.
Roberta D. 
Rossella D.
Sara A.
Roberto B.
Maria Grazia C.
Deborah C.
Silvia B.
Laura P.
Animated vs. Inanimated beings
This distinction is useful to recognize the gender of Italian nouns
| Grammatical gender | Italian | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animated beings | natural | il nonno (maschile) | the grandfather (masculine) |
| Inanimated beings | conventional | il giornale (maschile) | the newspaper (masculine) |
Masculine and feminine formation
In general
| Masculine | Feminine | Italian | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| -o | -a | nonno → nonna | grandfather → grandmother |
| -e | -a | parrucchiere → parrucchiera | male hairdresser → female hairdresser |
A lot of nouns form their feminine form (or the masculine one) in an irregular way
| Italian | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Two different words | fratello → sorella | brother → sister |
| Same form + different article | l(o)' artista →l(a)'artista | male artist → female artist |
| Same form + same article | (il) coniglio | rabbit |
| Same root + different suffix | studente → studentessa | male student → female student |
| Two different meanings | (il) caso → (la) casa | fate → house |
Singular to plural in Italian nouns
In general
| Singular | Plural | Italian | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| -a | -e (feminine) | la ragazza → le ragazze | the girl → the girls |
| -e | -i | il parrucchiere → i parrucchieri | the hairdresser → the hairdressers |
| -i | -i | la crisi → le crisi | the crisis → the crises |
| -o | -i | il tavolo → i tavoli | the table → the tables |
| -u | -u | lo gnu → gli gnu | the gnu → the gnus |
| -io | -i, -ii | l'orologio → gli orologi | the clock → the clocks |
Some nouns form their plural in an irregular way
| Italian | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender changes | Il braccio → Le braccia | The arm → The arms |
| Different endings | Il bue → I buoi | The ox → The oxen |
| invariable nouns | La verità → Le verità | The truth → The truths |
| Defective nouns | Il cemento | The cement |
| Individual and collective nouns | Il gregge → Le greggi | The flock |
| Countable and uncountable nouns | Dammi il burro → Dammi tre panetti di burro. | Give me the butter |
| Overabundant nouns | Il fronte | The front / The line The forehead The fronts / The lines The foreheads |
Italian modifying suffixes (diminutives, ...)
In Italian we can use suffixes to add new meanings to the original word.
We can distinguish between four different classes of altered nouns:
- Diminutives (diminutives) → suffixes -ino, -etto, -ello, -icino, -olino, -icello, -icciolo, -otto
- Terms of endearment (vezzeggiativi) → suffixes -uccio, -uzzo, -olo, -cino, -acchiotto.
- Augmentatives (accrescitivi) → suffixe -one
- Pejoratives (peggiorativi) → suffixes -accio, -astro, -ucolo, -iciattolo.
| Italian | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Diminutives | ponticello | little bridge |
| Terms of endearment | orsacchiotto | teddy bear |
| Augmentatives | viaggione | big travel |
| Pejoratives | mostriciattolo | little ugly monster |