Nouns and Articles –I nomi e gli articoli
In Italian, there are masculine and feminine nouns. Nouns that refer to males
are usually masculine, and that refer to females are usually feminine. ***Exception:
persona, which is feminine, but can refer to a man or a woman.
Masculine
Amico
Attore
Studente
Feminine
amica
attrice
studentessa
Usually, nouns that end in –o are masculine and nouns that end in –a are
feminine.
Masculine
Libro
Tavolo
Ufficio
Feminine
casa
domanda
idea
Nouns that end in –e may be either masculine or feminine, so you must
memorize.
Masculine
Esame
Ristorante
Feminine
automobile
notte
Nouns ending in a consonant or -ore, are masculine, and nouns ending in –
ione are feminine.
Masculine
Autobus
Computer
Dottore
Feminine
lezione
stazione
television
*** To form the plural of most Italian nouns, you need to change the final
vowel. The masculine ending –o becomes -i and the feminine ending in –a
becomes -e. Regardless of gender, singular nouns ending in the –e change the
vowel to -i to form the plural. Some nouns don’t have plural endings.
o i
ae
e i
***There are NO s’s to make plural words in Italian.
***When referring to an all-male group, or a mixed group of males and
females, use the ______________________________________________ form.
Definite and Indefinite articles with nouns
Definite article (l’articolo determinativo) means “the” in many cases:
Gender
(masculine)
(m. before a vowel)
(feminine)
(f. before a vowel)
(m. before z/s+cons.)
singular
il
l’
la
l’
lo





plural
i
gli
le
le
gli
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate singular definite article.
1. ________________ giorno
2. ________________ giornata
3. ________________ donna
4. ________________ ragazzo
5. ________________ ragazza
6. ________________ zaino
7. ________________studente
8. ________________ studentessa
9. ________________ uomo
10. ________________ amica
11. ________________ città
12. ________________ radio
13. ________________ università
14. ________________ zoo
Plural forms of words ending in –co/-ca/-go/-ga ADD an “h” in order to keep
the hard c or g sound.
(m) un parco ----
___________________________________
(f) una banca ----
___________________________________
(f) amica ----
___________________________________
(m) un banco ----
___________________________________
(m) un gioco ----
___________________________________
*exception un amico -
___________________________________
(desk, seat, bench)
Some nouns do not have a plural ending: foto, caffè, autobus, città, università,
radio, zoo.
First, make vocab words #1-14 plural and then fill in the blanks with the
appropriate plural article. (Attention, some words do not change in the plural!)
1. ________________ giorn________
2. ________________ giornat_________
3. ________________ donn___________
4. ________________ ragazz__________
5. ________________ ragazz__________
6. ________________ zain__________
7. ________________student__________
8. ________________ studentess__________
9. ________________ uom__________
10. ________________ amic__________
11. ________________ citt__________
12. ________________ radi__________
13. ________________ universit__________
14. ________________ zo__________
Remember plural rules:
oi
ei
ae
add ‘h’ after co/ca/go/ca
(but not always)
some words don’t change
Indefinite articles (l’articolo indeterminativo) means “a/an” or the number 1:
Gender
singular
(masculine)
un
(m. before a vowel)
un
(feminine)
una
(f. before a vowel)
un’
(masc. before z/s+cons.)
uno
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate indefinite article.
1. ________________ giorno
8. ________________ studentessa
2. ________________ giornata
9. ________________ uomo
3. ________________ donna
10. ________________ amica
4. ________________ ragazzo
11. ________________ città
5. ________________ ragazza
12. ________________ radio
6. ________________ zaino
13. ________________ università
7. ________________studente
14. ________________ zoo