In Italian there are only two genders, masculine and feminine, and three nouns classes: O, A and E nouns, like gatto, casa and cane. Learn the Italian masculine and feminine, the three Italian noun classes and some exceptions like papa and foto.
Masculine and feminine in Italian
O and A nouns
The noun classes O and A are pretty straightforward: O nouns are masculine, like il libro or il gatto, A nouns are feminine, like la scuola or la casa.
| O | il libro | book | masculine |
| A | la scuola | school | feminine |
Here you can find some sample words for masculine and feminine words ending with O and A:
| O – MASCULINE | A – FEMININE | ||
| il gatto | cat | la luna | moon |
| il topo | mouse | la stella | star |
| il ragazzo | boy | la ragazza | girl |
| il nonno | grandfather | la nonna | grandmother |
| il tavolo | table | la sedia | chair |
| l’albero | tree | la scuola | school |
| il bosco | forest | la borsa | bag |
| il pomeriggio | afternoon | la sera | evening |
| il vicino | neighbor (man) | la vicina | neighbor (woman) |
Exceptions
masculine nouns ending with A
If there is a rule, there are also exceptions… In fact there are a few A nouns that are masculine, like:
- il problema problem
- il turista tourist
- l’autista driver
- il papà dad
- il papa pope
A dad and the pope are two very different people, so it’s important to distinguish them properly when speaking. Listen to the difference:
| papà dad | |
| papa pope |
Feminine nouns ending with O
There are also O nouns that are feminine, like:
- la mano hand
- la foto photo
- la moto motorcycle
- l’auto car
- la radio radio
Except for the first one, the others are abbreviations of words actually ending with A: la fotografia, la motocicletta, l’automobile, la radiofonia.
E nouns
Besides O and A nouns, there are another noun class in Italian, that is the class of nouns ending with E. Unfortunately in this case you cannot tell if it is masculine or feminine just by looking at it! So you have to learn it by heart. In the following table you can find some useful words that end with E:
| MASCULINE | FEMININE | ||
| il padre | father | la madre | mother |
| il fiore | flower | la volpe | fox |
| il cane | dog | la carne | meat |
| il pesce | fish | la notte | night |
| il sole | sun | la tigre | tiger |
| il giornale | newspaper | la luce | light |
| il latte | milk | la soluzione | solution |
| il pane | bread | la pelle | skin |
| l’animale | animal | la neve | snow |
| il bicchiere | glass | la nave | ship |
There are also some words that end with a consonant (usually foreign words), like il bar or il film, and they are usually masculine.
Esercizio
1. Maschile e femminile
Impara di più!
Grammar: the definite article in Italian here
Vocabulary: Expressions with Essere and Avere here
Reading: Read a story in Italian here
