Gender of Italian nouns: masculine and feminine

A noun is a word for a person, an animal, a thing or an idea: «libro» (book), «madre» (mother), «amore» (love). In Italian every noun has a grammatical gender: it is either masculine or feminine. There is no third, neutral gender, so objects have a gender too: «il tavolo» (the table) is masculine, and «la sedia» (the chair) is feminine.

For objects, gender has nothing to do with meaning. It is a grammar label, but an important one, because the words around the noun change to match it: the article (the word for “the” or “a”) and any adjective. «Il tavolo è nero», but «la sedia è nera».

The good news is that the ending of a noun usually tells you its gender. The safest habit is to learn every new noun together with its article: not just «chiave» but «la chiave» (the key).

Endings that tell you the gender

Most nouns ending in -o are masculine: «il telefono», «lo zaino», «il bagno». Most nouns ending in -a are feminine: «la porta», «la cucina», «la finestra». These two rules cover a large part of the words you learn as a beginner.

Nouns ending in -e can be either. «Il pane» (bread) and «il ristorante» are masculine; «la chiave» and «la notte» (night) are feminine. Here the ending gives no clue, so you must learn the article with the word. A few groups of -e nouns are reliable, though. Nouns in -zione and -sione are feminine: «la lezione», «la stazione». Nouns in -ore are masculine: «il colore», «il dottore».

Nouns that end in an accented -tà or -tù are feminine: «la città», «l’università», «la nazionalità».

• La lezione comincia alle nove. · The lesson starts at nine.
• Il ristorante è vicino alla stazione. · The restaurant is near the station.

People and animals

With people, grammatical gender usually follows the person’s sex, and many nouns have a masculine and a feminine form. The most common pattern is -o for a man and -a for a woman: «il ragazzo, la ragazza», «l’amico, l’amica», «il figlio, la figlia». Other pairs use different endings, and some use completely different words.

Some person nouns have one form for both, and only the article shows who you mean: «il cantante» is a male singer, «la cantante» a female one. Nouns in -ista work this way, and so do several others: «il turista, la turista», «il cliente, la cliente», «il collega, la collega». For a few professions usage is changing: for a woman lawyer you will hear both «l’avvocato» and «l’avvocata».

Watch out for «la persona» (person). It is always feminine, even when it refers to a man: «Marco è una persona simpatica».

Many animal names have one fixed gender for both sexes: «la giraffa», «la tigre», «il serpente». A few common animals have two forms: «il gatto, la gatta».

Exceptions worth learning now

Some nouns break the ending rules, and several are very common. A small group of masculine nouns ends in -a. Many come from Greek and end in -ma: «il problema», «il programma», «il sistema», «il clima». «Il papà» (dad) is masculine too.

A few feminine nouns end in -o. The most important is «la mano» (hand). Others are short forms of longer words, and they keep the gender of the full word: «la foto» comes from «la fotografia», «la moto» from «la motocicletta», «l’auto» from «l’automobile». «La radio» is feminine too. The same logic explains why «il cinema», short for «il cinematografo», is masculine although it ends in -a, and why «la bici», short for «la bicicletta», is feminine.

• Non c’è problema! · No problem!
• La foto è sul mio telefono. · The photo is on my phone.

Loanwords, and the article as your best clue

Italian uses many words from English and other languages. Most of them end in a consonant and are masculine: «il bar», «il computer», «il film», «il weekend», «lo sport», «l’hotel». A few are feminine, usually because a matching Italian word is feminine: «la mail», like «la lettera».

Since endings are only a guide, the article is the clearest signal of gender. That is why good word lists show nouns as «il pane» or «la chiave». There is one catch: before a vowel, both «lo» and «la» become «l’», so «l’ospedale» (hospital) and «l’estate» (summer) do not show their gender. In these cases, look at the word for “a”: «un ospedale» is masculine, while «un’estate» has an apostrophe because it is feminine. An adjective tells you too: «l’estate calda».

• Il computer è nuovo, ma il mouse è vecchio. · The computer is new, but the mouse is old.
• L’hotel ha un bar e un ristorante. · The hotel has a bar and a restaurant.