Table of Contents
Every Italian noun and adjective has a grammatical gender: masculine or feminine. There is no neuter. To figure out the gender of a word, look at its ending. This lesson also covers Italian articles, the little words that work like “a” and “the” in English.
Italian genders
Masculine nouns end in -O:
anno – year, tavolo – table, amico – friend, gatto – cat (male)
and some words end in -E:
sole – sun, cuore – heart, padre – father, fiore – flower
Feminine nouns end in -A or -À:
donna – woman, gatta – cat (female), felicità – happiness, città – city
and some words end in -E:
moglie – wife, madre – mother, notte – night
A tip: when you learn a new word that ends in -E, memorize its gender together with the word. For -O and -A words the ending does the job for you.
Adjectives follow the same pattern. Masculine adjectives end in -O, feminine in -A:
bello / bella – beautiful
brutto / brutta – ugly
alto / alta – tall, high
basso / bassa – short, low
Plural
In the plural, masculine words change -O to -I, and feminine words change -A to -E:
anno – year, anni – years
amico – friend, amici – friends
finestra – window, finestre – windows
bella – beautiful, belle – beautiful (feminine plural)
Words that end in -E change it to -I in the plural, whatever their gender:
fiore – flower, fiori – flowers
notte – night, notti – nights
Indefinite articles (a, an)
UN is the masculine indefinite article, and UNA is the feminine one:
un tavolo – a table
un amico – a friend (male)
una macchina – a car
una canzone – a song
There are two special cases:
UNO instead of UN before masculine words that start with Z or S + another consonant:
uno zaino – a backpack
uno studente – a student
uno sbaglio – a mistake
UN’ instead of UNA before feminine words that start with a vowel:
un’amica – a friend (female)
un’ora – an hour
And what about the plural? English just drops the article (“a table” becomes “tables”). Italian has plural forms that mean “some”:
DEI for masculine words (dei tavoli – some tables, dei libri – some books)
DEGLI for masculine words starting with a vowel, Z or S + consonant (degli amici – some friends, degli zaini – some backpacks)
DELLE for feminine words (delle sedie – some chairs, delle tazze – some cups)
Definite articles (the)
The masculine “the” is IL, the feminine “the” is LA:
il biglietto – the ticket
il treno – the train
la città – the city
la spiaggia – the beach
The same special cases apply here:
LO instead of IL before masculine words starting with Z or S + consonant:
lo zaino – the backpack
lo zio – the uncle
lo studente – the student
lo sbaglio – the mistake
L’ instead of IL or LA before any word starting with a vowel:
l’albero – the tree
l’amico – the friend
l’autobus – the bus
l’ora – the hour (feminine)
Definite articles in plural
IL becomes I, and LO and L’ (masculine) become GLI:
i giorni – the days
i libri – the books
gli zaini – the backpacks
gli occhi – the eyes
gli uomini – the men (un uomo – a man)
gli alberi – the trees
LA and L’ (feminine) become LE:
le porte – the doors
le ragazze – the girls
le donne – the women
le ore – the hours
Here is the whole system in one table:
| a / an | the (singular) | the (plural) | |
| masculine | un tavolo | il tavolo | i tavoli |
| masculine before Z, S + consonant | uno zaino | lo zaino | gli zaini |
| masculine before a vowel | un amico | l’amico | gli amici |
| feminine | una porta | la porta | le porte |
| feminine before a vowel | un’amica | l’amica | le amiche |
By the way, did you notice “amiche”? Feminine words in -CA and -GA keep their hard sound in the plural by adding an H: amica – amiche, riga – righe.
Example sentences
Le forbici costano un euro – The scissors cost one euro
Gli occhi sono verdi – The eyes are green
Perché le porte sono chiuse? – Why are the doors closed?
Preparo uno zaino per il viaggio – I prepare a backpack for the trip
L’albero è molto alto – The tree is very tall
Lo zio del mio amico è un calciatore famoso – My friend’s uncle is a famous soccer player
Le finestre sono aperte – The windows are open
Le bottiglie sono vuote – The bottles are empty
Dove sono gli altri? – Where are the others?
C’è un negozio in questa strada? – Is there a store in this street?
Vocabulary
| anno – year
tavolo – table amico / amica – friend zaino – backpack macchina – car finestra – window porta – door albero – tree libro – book occhio – eye |
uomo (plural: uomini) – man
donna – woman città – city notte – night fiore – flower studente – student sbaglio – mistake bello / bella – beautiful alto / alta – tall, high vuoto / vuota – empty |
Exercises
1. Put the correct indefinite article (un, uno, una, un’)
- ______ libro (a book)
- ______ studente (a student)
- ______ macchina (a car)
- ______ ora (an hour)
- ______ zaino (a backpack)
- ______ notte (a night)
2. Put the correct definite article (il, lo, l’, la, i, gli, le)
- ______ treno (the train)
- ______ occhi (the eyes)
- ______ città (the city)
- ______ alberi (the trees)
- ______ zio (the uncle)
- ______ porte (the doors)
- ______ amica (the friend, female)
- ______ libri (the books)
Answers:
Exercise 1 – 1: un; 2: uno; 3: una; 4: un’; 5: uno; 6: una
Exercise 2 – 1: il; 2: gli; 3: la; 4: gli; 5: lo; 6: le; 7: l’; 8: i