Most Italian nouns end in a vowel—those that end in a consonant are of foreign origin—and all nouns have a gender, even those that refer to a qualities, ideas, and things. Usually, Italian singular masculine nouns end in -o, while feminine nouns end in –a(-tà).
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Tavolo (table) | Casa (house) |
| Sviluppo (development) | Rosa (rouse) |
| Organismo (organism) | Città (city) |
There are exceptions for this rule, of course (see table below):
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Giornale (newspaper) | F rase (sentence) |
| Pane (bread) | Canzone (song) |
| Nome (name) | Notte (night) |
Gender Inflections for Nouns:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Amico friend | Amica friend |
| Bambino little boy | Bambina little girl |
| Cugino cousin (he) | Cugina cousin (she) |
| Figlio son | Figlia daughter |
| Maestro master, teacher | Maestra teacher (female) |
The alteration -e : -a also occurs, cf.:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Signore mister | Signora mistress |
| Padrone master, owner | Padrona mistress of the house |
The alteration -e : -a also occurs, cf.:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| frate friar | soura nun |
| fratello brother | sorella sister |
| padre father | madre mother |
| uomo man | donna woman |
| paperone drake | oca duck |
These are nouns with one form for both genders. Here are included all the nouns suffixed by -ista. Examples:
Some other nouns, like:
| » camerata comrade | » consorte consort |
| » compatriota compatriot | » amante lover |
| » eresiarca heresiarch | » cliente client |
| » idiota idiot | » commerciante trader |
| » omicida murderer | » interprete interpreter |