Singular, plural, articles

Singular and plural, masculine and feminine

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by Alessandra Galassi

​Italian nouns have a gender and a number.

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​What is a noun?

It's a word used to identify people, places, or things.

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​In Italian, these people, places or things are

FEMININE, MASCULINE, SINGULAR and PLURAL.

​MASCULINE SINGULAR (maschile singolare)

​Masculine singular nouns end in -O

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IL CANCELLINO (the eraser)

IL LIBRO (the book)

​IL CESTINO (the trash can)

​IL QUADERNO (the notebook)

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​MASCULINE PLURAL (maschile plurale)

​Masculine plural nouns end in -I

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I CANCELLINI (the erasers)

I LIBRI (the books)

​I CESTINI (the trash cans)

​I QUADERNI (the notebooks)

​FEMININE SINGULAR (femminile singolare)

​Feminine singular nouns end in -A

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LA CASA (the house)

LA SCUOLA (the school)

LA LAVAGNA (the blackboard)

LA PORTA (the door)

​FEMININE PLURAL (femminile plurale)

​Feminine plural nouns end in -E

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LE CASE (the houses)

LE SCUOLE (the schools)

LE LAVAGNE (the blackboards)

LE PORTE (the doors)

Some Italian words have an accent.

The plural of these nouns is very simple as it’s the same as the singular.

So basically you don’t have to change anything.

Here you are some masculine nouns:

• il menù/ i menù (menu)

• il caffè/i caffè (caffè)

• il papà/ i papà (dad)

• il lunedì/ i lunedì (Monday)

These words, instead, are feminine:

• la città/ le città (city)

• la università/ le università (university)

• la verità/ le verità (truth)

Every noun is accompanied by an ARTICLE.

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​THE ARTICLES CAN BE DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE

DEFINITE ARTICLES

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​​Masculine singular

​IL

​LO

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​Feminine singular

​LA

DEFINITE ARTICLES

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​​Masculine plural

​I

​GLI

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​Feminine plural

​LE

DEFINITE ARTICLES

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​​Masculine singular Masculine plural

​IL I

​LO GLI

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​Feminine singular Feminine plural

​LA LE

• LO/GLI:

• it is used for all singular/plural masculine nouns beginning with s+consonant, z, ps, pn, gn, a vowel, or x.

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• ​studente/studenti (=student)

  specchio/specchi (=mirror)

  zaino/zaini (=backpack)

  gnomo/gnomi (=gnome)

• amico/amici (=friend)

IL LIBRO - I LIBRI

​IL PROFESSORE - I PROFESSORI

​IL CANCELLINO - I CANCELLINI

​IL CESTINO - I CESTINI

​IL QUADERNO - I QUADERNI

HOWEVER... there are some exceptions.

Some nouns end in -e. and they can be feminine OR masculine.

Their plural form ends in -i

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LO STUDENTE - GLI STUDENTI (student/students)

IL PAESE - I PAESI (town/towns)

LA STAGIONE - LE STAGIONI (season/seasons)

LA NAVE - LE NAVI (ship/ships)

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INDEFINITE ARTICLES

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​​Masculine

UN

​UNO

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​Feminine

​UNA

• uno is used with nouns starting with s + another consonant, z, gn, pn, ps, x and y.

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• UNO STUDENTE

• UNO ZAINO

• UNO PSICOLOGO

• UNO YO-YO

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