{"id":70570,"date":"2022-08-28T01:49:29","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T05:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/italian-gender\/"},"modified":"2024-10-18T06:31:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T10:31:36","slug":"italian-gender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/italian\/italian-gender\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Gender Explained: Rules, Agreement and More"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Italian Grammar, <strong>words can be masculine or feminine<\/strong>, but the reason why is not always clear to those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/italian\/best-website-to-learn-italian\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">learning Italian<\/a> as a second language.<\/p>\n<p>In this guide, I&#8217;ll help to clear up the confusion and explain Italian gender and agreement.<\/p>\n<p>[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Are Italian Genders?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Every Italian noun is one of two genders: <strong><em>maschile<\/em><\/strong> (masculine) or <strong><em>femminile<\/em><\/strong> (feminine).<\/p>\n<p>Every noun has a gender, and gender is essential for agreement (which we&#8217;ll look at later in the post). If you look in an Italian dictionary, often the first thing you will see is an <strong>m<\/strong>\u00a0or <strong>f<\/strong>\u00a0after the word that denotes whether it is masculine or feminine.<\/p>\n<p>Also, some nouns for animals will change gender based on the gender of the animal being described. This also goes for nouns referring to humans by their professions or nationalities.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking from experience, gender and agreement is something that seems extremely basic on the surface, but actually ends up being the trickiest thing for Italian learner to master.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How to Tell if an Italian Noun Is Masculine or Feminine<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The most basic way of identifying a word&#8217;s gender is to look at the final vowel. If it is an o, the noun is usually masculine and if the word ends in <em>-a<\/em>, it&#8217;s usually feminine.<\/p>\n<p>But there is no one foolproof rule for what makes a word masculine or feminine in Italian\u2014it&#8217;s just something speakers learn to recognize over time.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, there are many signs that can help you identify a word&#8217;s gender when you come across it.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a look:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Which Italian nouns are masculine?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Here are some ways to spot a masculine noun:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It ends in \u2014<em>o<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It ends in \u2014<em>ore<\/em>, like <em>professore<\/em> (professor)<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a profession ending in <em>-ta, <\/em>like <em>pilota<\/em> (pilot)<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s from a foreign language and ends in a consonant, like <em>bar<\/em> or <em>sport<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s the name of a month<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a day of the week that isn&#8217;t <em>domenica<\/em> (Sunday)<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a number that does not refer to time, like <em>otto <\/em>(eight)<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s the name of a tree, like <em>pero <\/em>(pear tree) or <em>olmo<\/em> (elm)<\/li>\n<li>It has Greek roots, like <em>problema<\/em> (problem)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong> Which Italian nouns are feminine?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Nouns are usually feminine when they end in <em>-a<\/em>, but that&#8217;s not the only way to identify them. Here are a few other signs a word is feminine:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It ends in <em>-a<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It ends in <em>-trice<\/em>, like <em>scrittrice<\/em> (female writer)<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It ends in <em>-ione, like stagione <\/em>(season)<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It ends in <em>t\u00e0<\/em> or <em>-t\u00f9 <\/em>like <em>citt\u00e0<\/em> (city) or <em>giovent\u00f9<\/em> (youth)<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a singular noun ending in <em>-i, like<\/em> <em>crisi<\/em> (crisis)<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a profession ending in <em>-essa<\/em>, like <em>professoressa<\/em> (female professor)<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a time on the clock, like <em>le otto<\/em> <em>e mezzo<\/em> (eight-thirty)<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a fruit, like <em>pera<\/em> (pear) or <em>mela<\/em> (apple)<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a type of science, like <em>chimica<\/em> (chemistry) or<em> fisica <\/em>(physics)<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s an abstract concept, like <em>giustizia<\/em> (justice)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Exceptions to <span style=\"font-size: 18.72px\">Italian<\/span> noun gender rules<\/h3>\n<p>Just when you think you&#8217;ve got it all figured out, there are always exceptions to the rule. Here are just a few words that seem like they should be one gender, but are actually the other:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>l&#8217;auto (f) \u2014 <\/em>the car<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>la moto (f) \u2014 <\/em>the motorbike<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>la foto (f) \u2014<\/em>\u00a0the photo<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>la radio (f) \u2014<\/em>\u00a0the radio<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>il cinema (m) \u2014<\/em>\u00a0the cinema<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>la mano (f) <\/em>v the hand<strong><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In some cases, this is because the word is actually a shortened form of another word that has become the most-used version. <em>L&#8217;auto<\/em>, for example, is short for <em>l&#8217;automobile<\/em> (the automobile), and<em> la foto<\/em> is short for <em>la fotografia<\/em> (the photograph). In other cases, like with <em>la mano<\/em>, it is a holdover from Latin.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Words where you could use either gender\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In addition to those exceptions, there are also some words that can be masculine or feminine depending on the gender of the person or animal you&#8217;re talking about. In this case, you change which article you use. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>nouns ending in <em>-ista <\/em>like <em>la <\/em><em>turista <\/em>or<em> il turista <\/em>(the female tourist or the male tourist)<\/li>\n<li>some nouns ending in <em>-ga <\/em>like <em>il collega<\/em> or <em>la collega<\/em> (the male colleague or the female colleague)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And sometimes you can change the gender by changing both the article and the last letter. For instance, some animal names like <em>un gatto<\/em> (a cat) are masculine in general, but have a feminine version to describe a female animal, like <em>la gatta.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Singular vs. Plural: How Italian Nouns Change Based on Number<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Now that we&#8217;ve seen how to tell what gender a word is, we can get to the second most important part of this lesson: <strong>agreement<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Everything in Italian is based on agreement, and plurals are no exception. In English, we usually add an -s or -es to make a word plural. But in Italian, both the article and the final vowel of the word change when a word becomes plural.<\/p>\n<h3>Italian articles for plural nouns<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><em>il<\/em> becomes <em>i<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>lo<\/em> becomes <em>gli<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>la<\/em> becomes <em>le<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Final vowel changes for plural Italian nouns<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><em>o<\/em> becomes <em>i<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>a<\/em> becomes <em>e<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>e<\/em> becomes <em>i<\/em><\/li>\n<li>words ending in consonants or <em>\u00e0<\/em> stay the same<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, to put it all together:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>il<\/strong> gatt<strong>o<\/strong><\/em> becomes <em><strong>i<\/strong> gatt<strong>i <\/strong><\/em>(or <em><strong>la<\/strong> gatt<strong>a <\/strong><\/em>becomes <em><strong>le<\/strong> gatt<strong>e<\/strong><\/em>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>lo<\/strong> zi<strong>o<\/strong><\/em> (the uncle) becomes <em><strong>gli<\/strong> zi<strong>i<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">and <em><strong>l&#8217;<\/strong>universit<strong>\u00e0 <\/strong><\/em>(the university) changes the article only and becomes <em><strong>le<\/strong> universit<strong>\u00e0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Exceptions to Italian plural noun rules<\/h3>\n<p>That seems simple enough, but there are a few more exceptions you have to keep an eye out for. In another throwback to Latin, some words don&#8217;t just change their article and last letter when they become plural\u2014they change gender.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>l&#8217;uovo<\/em> (the egg) \u2014<em>\u00a0le uova <\/em>(the eggs)<\/li>\n<li><em>il dito<\/em> (the finger) \u2014<em>\u00a0le dita <\/em>(the fingers)<\/li>\n<li><em>il braccio<\/em> (the arm) \u2014<em>\u00a0le braccia <\/em>(the arms)<\/li>\n<li><em>l&#8217;osso<\/em> (the bone) \u2014<em>\u00a0le ossa <\/em>(the bones)<\/li>\n<li><em>il muro<\/em> (the wall) \u2014<em>\u00a0le mura <\/em>(the walls)<\/li>\n<li><em>il lenzuolo<\/em> (the sheet)<em> \u2014 le lenzuola <\/em>(the sheets)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>How to Make Your Italian Nouns, Articles, and Adjectives Agree<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Now that you know all about masculine and feminine and singular and plural nouns, it&#8217;s time to show you how to make them work in a sentence.<\/p>\n<p>In Italian grammar, <strong>every part of a sentence must agree with the other parts<\/strong>. This is the number one rule of the language.<\/p>\n<p>This means that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/italian\/italian-articles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/italian\/italian-adjectives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">adjective<\/a>, adverb and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/italian\/italian-nouns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noun<\/a> must <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/adjectives-in-italian-form-and-agreement-4097058\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">all agree<\/a> in both number and gender or the sentence will be (while not usually completely unintelligible) completely wrong.<\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t use <em>bello<\/em>, a masculine adjective, to describe <em>una casa<\/em>, which is feminine, for example. If you are using a feminine noun, you must then make any article or adjectives that go with it feminine as well.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, you start with the noun and then spread the gender outward. It goes something like this:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>Che bell<strong>a<\/strong> cas<strong>a<\/strong>!<\/em> \u2014 What a beautiful house!<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>Dammi <strong>lo<\/strong> zain<strong>o<\/strong> azzurr<strong>o<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 Give me the blue backpack.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Le<\/strong> ragazz<strong>e<\/strong> sono carin<strong>e<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 The girls are nice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Alcune<\/strong><\/em> <em>universit<strong>\u00e0 <\/strong>sono molto vecchi<strong>e<\/strong><\/em>. \u2014 Some universities are very old.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And that&#8217;s it! Now you are an expert on Italian grammatical gender.<\/p>\n<p>Now, aside from a few pesky exceptions to the rules (which every language has, unfortunately), can we all agree that Italian gender and agreement aren&#8217;t so tough?<\/p>\n<p>If you want to see you gender works in context, you could check out a language learning program such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/italian\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FluentU.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<p>You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/fluentu-learn-language-videos\/id917892175\">the iOS app<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.fluentflix.fluentu&amp;hl=en&amp;gl=US\">Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p><i><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/italian\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\r\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/try-fluentu-for-free.jpg\" alt=\"FluentU Ad\" \/>\r\n  <p style=\"text-align: center\">\r\n    <button class=\"btn-blue\" style=\"border: none;font-size: 18px;text-align: center;padding: 0.75rem 1.5rem;cursor: pointer\">\r\n      Try FluentU for FREE!\r\n    <\/button>\r\n  <\/p>\r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\n\n<p>You can also try out the quiz below to test what you&#8217;ve learned.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Italian Gender Quiz<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Choose the correct translation of the following words.<\/p>\n<p>1. the radio<br \/>\na. <em>il radio<\/em><br \/>\nb. <em>la radio<\/em><br \/>\nc. <em>le radio<\/em><\/p>\n<p>2. the strawberry<br \/>\na. <em>il fragola<\/em><br \/>\nb. <em>la fragolo<\/em><br \/>\nc. <em>la fragola<\/em><\/p>\n<p>3. the books<br \/>\na. <em>i libri<\/em><br \/>\nb. <em>gli libri<\/em><br \/>\nc. <em>le libri<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Which of the following sentences are correct?<\/p>\n<p>4. The famous female author wrote three books.<br \/>\na. <em>L&#8217;autore famoso ha scritto tre libri.<\/em><br \/>\nb. <em>L&#8217;autrice famosa ha scritto tre libri.<\/em><br \/>\nc. <em>Il autrice famoso ha scritto tre libri.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>5. The pine tree is gigantic.<br \/>\na.<em> Il pino \u00e8 gigantesco.<\/em><br \/>\nb. <em>La pina \u00e8 gigantesca.<\/em><br \/>\nc. <em>Il pino \u00e8 gigantesca.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Answers: 1. b\u00a0 2. c\u00a0 3. a\u00a0 4. b\u00a0 5. a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Italian Grammar, words can be masculine or feminine, but the reason why is not always clear to those learning Italian as a second language. In this guide, I&#8217;ll help&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":449,"featured_media":225167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Italian Gender Explained: Rules, Agreement and More | FluentU Italian Blog","description":"Italian gender and agreement are essential to mastering Italian grammar, and you need to understand these rules to know how to form correct sentences. We'll cover how to recognize masculine and feminine nouns and articles in Italian, as well as how to make the other parts of the sentence agree with the noun gender."},"footnotes":""},"categories":[420,431],"tags":[],"coauthors":[516],"class_list":["post-70570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-italian","category-italian-vocab-and-grammar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/449"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90342,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70570\/revisions\/90342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70570"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=70570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}