Italian 1.3. Gender & Plural

In this lesson, we will learn about grammatical gender and plural in Italian.

What is the rule of masculine and feminine gender in Italian?

How do we form the plural in Italian? What are the Italian plural rules and endings?

The vast majority of Italian words end in a vowel. This is part of the reason spoken Italian has a melodic recognizable tone.

This rule, however, is not universal. Not all Italian words end with a vowel, e.g., “il” (the), “con” (with), “in” (in). In addition, there are many foreign words that have made inroads into the Italian life and dictionary such as “sport” and “Internet.”

The vowel at the end of the word often identifies the gender and number of a noun or adjective.

General Rule

Many masculine nouns and adjectives in Italian end with “-o” in singular and “-i” in plural. On the other hand, many feminine nouns and adjectives end with “-a” in singular and “-e” in plural.

Furthermore, some Italian words end in “-e” in their singular form, and it can be hard to tell if they are masculine or feminine. To form the plural, the final “e” is changed to “i,” regardless of the gender of the word.

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	-o	-i
Masculine or Feminine	-e
Feminine	-a	-e

The above rule applies most of the time, but not always, to define or form the gender and plural in Italian.

Notably, the word “gente” (people) in Italian, unlike in English, is singular, e.g., “La gente va e viene” (people come and go).

There are words that are only used in plural form such as “baffi^m” (mustache), “forbici^f” (scissors), “occhiali^m” (glasses), and “pantaloni^m” (pants).

Throughout the lessons, we use the superscripts ^m and ^f to refer to masculine and feminine genders, respectively.

More Rules on Gender & Plural

Nouns and adjectives in Italian have only two genders: masculine and feminine. There is no neuter gender. The gender of an adjective follows the gender of the noun it describes.

Adjectives in Italian, unlike in English, come after the noun they describe, for example, “edificio alto” (tall building). There are some exceptions to this rule, for example, “grande città” (big or great city). Many adjectives that come before the noun are indefinite adjectives, which will be covered in Level III, Lesson 4.

For the purpose of brevity in the lessons, we often refer only to the masculine singular form of an adjective. We trust that by learning the following basic rules, you will be able to guess the feminine and plural forms most of the time.

Let us summarize some important rules in the context of examples:

1. Words ending in “-o” are generally masculine, and the plural is formed by changing the final “o” to “i.”

For instance, the plural of “quaderno” (notebook) in Italian is “quaderni.” Similarly, the plural of “zaino” (backpack) is “zaini.” Here are some more examples:

librom	book	librim	books
gattom	cat	gattim	cats
telefonom	phone	telefonim	phones
ziom	uncle	ziim	uncles

There are only a few exceptions of words ending in “-o” that are feminine, such as: “mano” (hand), “radio” (radio), “libido” (libido), “foto” (photo), “auto” (car), and “moto” (motorcycle).

2. Words ending in “-a” are generally feminine, and the plural is formed by changing the final “a” to “e.”

For example:

casaf	house	casef	houses
camiciaf	shirt	camicief	shirts
sediaf	chair	sedief	chairs
ziaf	aunt	zief	aunts

There are some exceptions such as:

• Words that end in “-ma” or “-ta” and originate from Greek These are masculine, and the plural is formed by changing the final “a” to “i.” For instance, the plural of “il clima” (the climate) in Italian is “i climi.” Here are some examples:

problemam	problem	problemim	problems
sistemam	system	sistemim	systems
climam	climate	climim	climates
temam	topic	temim	topics
diplomam	diploma	diplomim	diplomas
drammam	drama	drammim	dramas
dilemmam	dilemma	dilemmim	dilemmas
diagrammam	diagram	diagrammim	diagrams
pianetam	planet	pianetim	planets
poetam	poet	poetim	poets

This exception does not apply to words that did not originate from Greek, such as “forma^f” (form) and “piattaforma^f” (platform), whose plurals are “forme^f” and “piattaforme^f,” respectively.

• Words that end in “-ista” and refer to masculine or feminine people performing a profession, such as:

tassistam,f	taxi driver	tassistim tassistef	taxi drivers
artistam,f	artist	artistim artistef	artists
analistam,f	analyst	analistim analistef	analysts
pianistam,f	pianist	pianistim pianistef	pianists

The feminine form is used for groups that consist exclusively of feminine-gender members. Even if one masculine-gender member of that group exists, we must use the masculine form.

3. Words ending in “-e” can be masculine or feminine, and the plural is formed by changing the final “e” to “i.”

For example:

colorem	color	colorim	colors
madref	mother	madrif	mothers
padrem	father	padrim	fathers
chiavef	key	chiavif	keys

It can be difficult to determine if a noun ending with “-e” is masculine or feminine and a dictionary is often needed. Most nouns ending in “-ice” are feminine. They are often the feminine forms of masculine nouns ending in “-ore.”
For instance, the feminine of “attore“ (actor) is “attrice” (actress). Whereas the plural of the masculine “attore“ is “attori,” the plural of the feminine “attrice“ is “attrici,” pronounced /at-tree-chee/. Here are some examples:

attorem attricef	actor actress	attorim attricif	actors actresses
autorem autricef	author	autorim autricif	authors
direttorem direttricef	director	direttorim direttricif	directors
imperatorem imperatricef	emperor empress	imperatorim imperatricif	emperors empresses
pittorem pittricef	painter	pittorim pittricif	painters
scrittorem scrittricem	writer	scrittorim scrittricim	writers

In general, most nouns ending with “-ione” are feminine, and most nouns ending in “-one,” but not “-ione,” are masculine. For example:

nazionef	nation	nazionif	nations
televisionef	television	televisionif	televisions
opinionef	opinion	opinionif	opinions
cordonem	rope	cordonim	ropes
mattonem	brick	mattonim	bricks
pallonem	ball	pallonim	balls

However, there are few exceptions, such as “copione” (script) which is masculine.

4. Although the most common gender pattern is a feminine noun with an “-a” ending that corresponds to a masculine noun with an “-o” ending, this is not the only gender pattern in Italian.

We have encountered masculine nouns ending in “-ore” whose feminine forms end in “-ice,” e.g., “autore^m” and “autrice^f,” meaning “author.”

Another irregular but common feminine form is using the ending “-essa.” This is common with some masculine nouns ending in “-ore,” “-ante,” “-ente,” “-eta,” and “-one.” For example:

professorem professoressaf	professor	professorim professoressef	professors
presidentem presidentessaf	president	presidentim presidentessef	presidents
poetam poetessaf	poet	poetim poetessef	poets
leonem leonessaf	lion lioness	leonim leonessef	lions lionesses

Some nouns ending in “-e” in masculine have an “-a” ending in their feminine forms. For example:

camerierem camerieraf	waiter waitress	camerierim camerieref	waiters waitresses
infermierem infermieraf	nurse	infermierim infermieref	nurses

Some nouns do not change form in masculine or feminine. For example:

cantantem,f	singer	cantantim,f	singers
francesem,f	French	francesim,f	French (plural)
inglesem,f	English	inglesim,f	English (plural)

Finally, there are other nouns that do not follow any pattern. For example, the feminine form of “dio” (god) is “dea” (goddess).

5. Words under the following categories have the same singular and plural forms:

• Foreign words used in Italian. Most such words are masculine.
  For instance, the plural of the masculine noun “computer” in Italian is the same, i.e., “computer.” Here are some more examples:

filmm	film	filmm	films
barm	bar	barm	bars
sportm	sport	sportm	sports
taxim	taxi	taxim	taxis
autobusm	bus	autobusm	buses
rem	king	rem	kings
grum	crane	grum	cranes
hotelm	hotel	hotelm	hotels

• Most words ending in an accented vowel.
  For instance, the plural of “città” (city) in Italian is the same, i.e., “città.” Similarly, the plural of “università” (university) in Italian is the same, i.e., “università.”Here are some examples:

cittàf	city	cittàf	cities
caffèm	coffee	caffèm	coffees
universitàf	university	universitàf	universities
tribùf	tribe	tribùf	tribes
virtùf	virtue	virtùf	virtues

• Words that end in “-si.” Most such words are feminine. For example:

crisif	crisis	crisif	crises
analisif	analysis	analisif	analyses

• Feminine words that end in “-o,” except “mano^f” (hand), whose plural is “mani^f.” For example:

radiof	radio	radiof	radios
autof	car	autof	cars
fotof	photo	fotof	photos
motof	motorcycle	motof	motorbikes

Notice that the nouns “auto,” “foto,” and “moto” are short forms of the feminine nouns “automobile^f,” “fotografia^f,” and “motocicletta^f,” respectively.

6. There are a few words that are masculine in singular form and feminine in plural form.

For example:

bracciom	arm	bracciaf	arms
ditom	finger	ditaf	fingers
ginocchiom	knee	ginocchiaf	knees
labbrom	lip	labbraf	lips
uovom	egg	uovaf	eggs

7. Some words undergo spelling changes to form the plural.

These often fall under one of these categories:

• Words with “-co/-ca” and “-go/-ga” endings often add “h” to form plurals with “-chi/-che” or “-ghi/-ghe” endings, especially if the “-co/-ca” or “-go/-ga” is not preceded by “e” or “i.”
  
  For instance, the plural of “albergo“ (hotel) in Italian is “alberghi.” Here are some examples:

giocom	game	giochim	games
parcom	park	parchim	parks
albergom	hotel	alberghim	hotels
lagom	lake	laghim	lakes

Notice that the purpose of these changes is to maintain the desired soft or hard pronunciation of the “c” or “g.”

If an “e” or “i” precedes the “-co/-ca” or “-go/-ga,” the masculine plural form often ends in “-ci” or “-gi,” leading to change in the “c” or “g” pronunciation from hard to soft sound.

For instance, the plural of “amico“ (male friend) is “amici,” pronounced /a-mee-chee/, whereas the plural of “amica“ (female friend) in Italian is “amiche,” pronounced /a-mee-ke/. Here are some examples:

amicom amicaf	friend	amicim amichef	friends
grecom grecaf	Greek	grecim grechef	Greeks
biologom biologaf	biologist	biologim biologhef	biologists
psicologom psicologaf	psychologist	psicologim psicologhef	psychologists

Notice that this exception applies only to the masculine form, whereas the feminine form still adds an “h” in the plural.

In general, the suffixes “-logo” and “-loga,” referring to a profession in singular, change to “-logi” and “-loghe,” respectively, in plural.

Finally, there are a number of words, mostly masculine, that do not follow the aforementioned rules. For example:

porcom	pig	porcim	pigs
ficom	fig	fichim	figs
sindacom	mayor	sindacim	mayors
monacom	monk	monacim	monks

• Words with “-cia” and “-gia” endings often remove the “i” to form plurals with “-ce” and “-ge” endings, if the “-cia” or “-gia” ending is preceded by a consonant. For example:

aranciaf	orange	arancef	oranges
facciaf	face	faccef	faces
spiaggiaf	beach	spiaggef	beaches

If the “-cia” or “-gia” ending is preceded by a vowel, the regular plural is formed with “-cie” or “-gie” ending. For example:

camiciaf	shirt	camicief	shirts
ciliegiaf	cherry	ciliegief	cherries
valigiaf	suitcase	valigief	suitcases

• Words with the the “-io” ending remove the final “o” to form plurals with the “-i” ending.
  For instance, the plural of “orologio“ (clock or watch) is “orologi.” Here are some examples:

figliom	son	figlim	sons
occhiom	eye	occhim	eyes
orologiom	clock/watch	orologim	clocks/watches

If the “i” in the final “-io” is in the stressed syllable of the word, the plural is formed with the “-ii” ending. For example:

inviom	dispatch	inviim	dispatches
ziom	uncle	ziim	uncles

8. Some words have completely irregular plurals.

For example:

uomom	man	uominim	men
diom	god	dèim	gods
buem	ox	buoim	oxen
alaf	wing	alif	wings
armaf	weapon	armif	weapons
tempiom	temple	templim	temples

9. Some words have a different meaning when used as masculine versus when used as feminine.

For example:

postom	place	postaf	mail
modom	way	modaf	fashion
capitalem	capital (money)	capitalef	capital (city)

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