Italian Grammar Basics

Italian Grammar Basics

Nouns, gender, The, A/an

Nouns

• A noun is a person, place or thing

• In Italian a noun will generally end in a vowel (unless it's borrowed from English e.g. Kayak)

• Nouns in Italian have a gender

• The gender has got nothing to do with who is interacting with the noun, the noun itself has a gender

Nouns gender

Nouns that end with the letter 'o' are masculine and singular

Nouns that end with the letter 'a' are feminine and singular

Nouns that end with the letter 'e' are a bit trickier and you should always consult a dictionary

Multiple Select

Select all of the nouns that are feminine and singular

• occhio

• uva

• ragazzo

• ragazza

• giraffa

Multiple Select

Select all of the nouns that are masculine and singular

• squalo

• ragno

• chitarra

• uccello

• finestra

Singular and plural nouns

To make a noun plural, you simply change the last letter of the noun as seen in the examples here.

Multiple Choice

Which is the correct formation for the plural of "ragazza"?

• ragazzo

• ragazzi

• ragazze

• ragazza

Multiple Choice

Which is the correct formation for the plural of "libro"?

• libra

• libre

• libro

• libri

The definite article (The)

• When talking about nouns in Italian you need to use the definite article

  
  

• There are rules for which definite article you should use for which types of noun

Multiple Choice

What is the correct Definite Article for the noun "chitarra"?

• la

• l'

• il

• lo

Multiple Choice

What is the correct Definite Article for the noun "calendario"?

• la

• l'

• il

• lo

Multiple Choice

What is the Definite article for the noun "uovo"?

• la

• l'

• il

• lo

Multiple Choice

What is the Definite Article for the noun "squalo"?

• la

• l'

• il

• lo

The indefinite article (a or an)

• The indefinite article is used when you want to say "an apple" or "a guitar"

• It replaces the definite article (the), but follow the same rules