Esame 1 – Appunti
Nouns
Most nouns that are masculine end in -o.
ragazzo
albero
scopo
Most nouns that are feminine end in -a.
porta
anima
scarpa
Nouns that end in -e may be either masculine or feminine.
giornale (m)
studente (m) estate (f)
madre (f)
Nouns that end in a consonant, usually borrowed words (from another language) are always masculine.
football
yogurt
scooter
autobus
Nouns that end in -ione are always feminine.
stazione
religione
professione
Nouns that end in -ore are always masculine.
professore
dottore
attore
autore
Nouns that end in -essa are always feminine.
professoressa dottoressa
Nouns that end in -ice are always feminine.
attrice
autrice
Some nouns that end in -o are feminine because they have been shortened from their original version.
fotografia  foto
motocicletta  moto
Pluralization of Nouns
To pluralize a masculine noun ending in -o, change the -o to an -i.
ragazzi
alberi
scopi
To pluralize a feminine noun ending in -a, change the -a to an -e.
porte
anime
scarpe
To pluralize any noun ending in -e, change the -e to an -i.
giornali
studenti
estati
madri
Nouns that end in a consonant do not change in their plural forms.
football
yogurt
scooter
autobus
Nouns that end in accents do not change in their plural forms.
città
caffè
tassì
falò
Shortened nouns do not change in their plural forms.
foto
moto
auto
virtù
Nouns that end in -io, -co/-ca, and -go/-ga
Most nouns ending in -io end in only one -i when made plural.
figlio  figli
esercizio  esercizi
One exception is this:
zio  zii, because the i is stressed in the original word zio.
Most nouns ending in -co or -go add an h to keep the hard c/g sound when made plural.
albergo  alberghi
palco  palchi
amica  amiche
The main exception to this is:
amico  amici
Definite Articles (“the”)
Masculine, singular nouns have one of the following definite articles:
lo (used for a noun beginning with s impura*)
lo studente
lo gnomo
lo psicologo
lo yogurt
lo zaino
il (used for a noun beginning with any consonant not included in s impura)
il ragazzo
il caffè
il giornale
il braccio
l’ (used for any noun beginning with a vowel)
l’albero
l’elemento
l’individuo
l’occhio
*s impura includes: s + conosonant-; z-; y-; ps-; gn-
Feminine, singular nouns have one of the following definite articles:
la (used for any noun beginning with a consonant)
la madre
la studentessa la banca
l’ (used for any noun beginning with a vowel)
l’anima
l’attrice
l’opera
la zia
l’epoca
Masculine, plural nouns have one of the following definite articles:
gli (used for those nouns that require lo or l’ in the singular form)
gli studenti
gli yogurt
gli alberi
gli gnocchi
i (used for those nouns that require il in the singular form)
i ragazzi
i professori
i caffè
i giorno
Feminine, plural nouns all use the following definite article:
le (used for all feminine, plural nouns)
le ragazze
le anime
le attrici
le madri
Summary:
Sing.
il

lo
l’
la
l’
Plur.
i
gli
le
Indefinite Articles (a/an)
Masculine, singular nouns have one of the following indefinite articles:
uno (used for those nouns that require lo as a definite article)
uno yogurt
uno studente uno zaino
uno gnomo
un (used for those nouns that require l’ or il as a definite article)
un ragazzo
un albergo
un padre
un esercizio
Feminine, singular nouns have one of the following indefinite articles:
una (used for those nouns that require la as a definite article)
una moto
una stazione una studentessa
un’ (used for those nouns that require l’ as a definite article)
un’anima
un’amica
un’opera
un’auto
Italian, like English, has no plural indefinite articles
Numbers 1-10
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
uno
due
tre
quattro
cinque
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
sei
sette
otto
nove
dieci
Days of the week
day
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
il giorno
lunedì
martedì
mercoledì
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
giovedì
venerdì
sabato
domenica