Noun (Nome)

 
 
Italian nouns end in -o, -a, -tà, -e and, rarely, in -(t)ú. These ending in -o are inherited from the Latin Second declension, and those in -a -- from the First declension. The nouns in -tà and -tú had formerly longer forms in -tate and -tute and as the other nouns in -e descended from the Latin Third declension. The word tribú tribe has preserved the -u of the Latin Forth declension, while the other nouns of this class acquired the ending -o.

See more details in the Declensions in Vulgar Latin.

Nouns of non-Latin origin may have different endings, mainly a consonant or an -i.
 
 
Gender of the Nouns (Genere dei Nomi)

As in the other modern Romance languages, the nouns in Italian are either of masculine or of feminine gender.

Usually, the nouns in -o are  masculine and those in -a (-tà) are feminine, cf.:
 

• Notes:

  
  § The words eco echo, mano hand and others are feminine. See Feminine nouns ending in -o.
  § Many words ending in -a (mainly in -ta and -ma) are masculine; these are usually of Greek origin. See for details the List of Masculine nouns ending in -a.
  § The words in -tà ended formerly in -tate.
  § There are a few feminine nouns, like spia spy, guàrdia guard etc., that refers usually to male persons. See Feminine nouns in -a referring to males.

The nouns in -e may be masculine or feminine. Those referring to males are masculine and those referring to females are feminine, cf.:
 

Nouns ending in -tore / -sore (agent; often corresponding to E. -tor, -sor), -ore (abstract nouns; often corresponding to BE. -our), -ione (agent etc.; often = E. -ion), -one (augmentative = E. -on) etc. are masculine:

• autore author, dittatore dictator;
• precursore precursor;
• colore colour, onore honor, orrore horror, sapore taste, umore mood, humour;
• campione champion, ladrone brigand;
• cannone cannon, milione million, padrone master, owner.

Nouns ending in -trice (agent), -tudine  (corresponding to E. -tude), -zione (-sione) / -gione (corresponding to E. -tion (-sion) / -son), etc. are feminine:

• imperatrice empress;
• altitudine height, magnitudine magnitude;
• nazione nation, visione vision, ragione reason, stagione season.

Nouns in -tú, like gioventú youth, servitú slavedom, virtú virtue etc., are feminine. The noun tribú tribe is masculine.

The nouns of non-Latin origin, ending in consonant, like film film, sport sport, tram tramway etc., are masculine. The nouns of Greek origin, ending in -i, like analisi analysis, sintesi synthesis etc., are feminine.

Abbreviated nouns retain the gender of the words from which they are derived.

• foto f (from fotografia) picture;
• cinema m (from cinematografo) cinema;
• moto f (from motocicletta) motorcycle;
• auto f (from automobile) car;
• bici f (from bicicletta) bike.

For more details see Suffixes of Nouns.
 
 
Feminine of the Nouns (Femminile dei Nomi)

Feminine is often obtained from masculine by the alternation -o : -a in the endings, cf.:
 

These are nouns with one form for both genders. Here are included:

1. All the nouns suffixed by -ista, cf.:

• artista artist
• giornalista journalist
• pianista pianist
• turista tourist etc.

2. Some other nouns, like:

These are nouns having but one form to indicate either sex. The natural sex is indicated by the adjectives maschio male and femmina female:

• l'acquila (maschio / femmina) eagle
• la cicogna (maschio / femmina) stork
• il serpente (maschio / femmina) snake
• la volpe (maschio / femmina) fox.

See also Homonyms of different gender with different meaning.
 
 
Plural of the Nouns (Plurale dei Nomi)

Generally, the plural is derived according to the following rules:
 

• caffè : due caffè
• film : due film
• foto : due foto

In these cases the plural is recognized by external indicators, as articles, pronouns etc, cf.:
 

The noun uomo man has irregular plural form: uomini men.

The words of common gender in -a have different forms for masculine and feminine in plural, cf.:

• atleta athlete (male / female) : atleti athletes (males), atlete athletes (females)
• collega colleague (male / female) : i colleghi colleagues (males), le colleghe colleagues (females)

A few masculine nouns in -o, which were of neuter gender in Latin, form plural in -a and change their gender to feminine, cf.:

• centinaio (il) hundred : centinaia (le) hundreds
• uovo (l') egg : uova (le) eggs

See the List of Masculine nouns with plural forms in -a.

A greater number of masculine nouns in -o have two forms in plural: one in -i (masculine) and another in -a (feminine); these nouns are also inherited from the Latin neuter gender. Often the forms in -a (historically more archaic) is preserved in idiomatic expressions, but sometimes the different plural forms are associated with change in the meaning, cf.:

• grido scream : gridi screams and grida screams
• labbro lip; edge : i labbri edges and le labbra lips

For more details see Nouns of two plurals.
 
 
Nouns of Greek origin (Nomi d'origine Greca)
 
The nouns of Greek origin tend to preserve the gender they have in Greek (the nouns of neuter gender being classified as masculine). Thus:

The nouns suffixed by -ma and -ta are masculine, cf.:

• tema theme, topic, programma program;
• poeta poet, profeta prophet, diploma diplome etc.

They form plural in -i, cf.:

• tema : temi, programma : programmi etc.
• poeta : poeti, profeta : profeti, diploma : diplomi etc.

See also the List of Masculine nouns ending in -a.

Note that the words ending in -ma and -ta of Latin origin are regularly feminine, cf.:

• fiamma flame, casta caste

The nouns suffixed by -si are feminine:

• crisi crisis, ipotesi hypothesis, sintesi synthesis, tesi thesis etc.

In plural they remain unchanged.

The separate treating of the Greek words was inherited from the Classical Latin where they had a declination pattern of their own.
 
 
Pluralia tantum

These are nouns used in plural only. The most important between them are:
 

Some geographical names are used in plural only:

• le Ande the Ands
• le Alpi the Alps
• le Antille the Antilles
• gli Appennini the Apennines
• le Baleari the Balearic Islands
• i Carpazi the Carpathians

 
Singularia tantum

These are nouns used in singular only. The most important between them are:

1. The proper names: Giovanni John, Maria Mary, Roma Rome, Italia Italy etc.

2. Nouns, designating objects and phenomena unique in themselves, such as:

• il sole sun
• la luna moon
• il sud south
• il nord north
• l'orizzonte horizon

3. Nouns, designating substances, materials, products etc.:

• il latte milk
• il carbone coal
• il frumento wheat

If used in plural, they denote types, kinds or separate peaces.

4. Abstract nouns, denoting quality, action or state:

• la gioia joy
• l'onore honor
• lo sviluppo development
• l'ingratitudine ingratitude
• l'orgoglio pride

5. Nouns implying a total plurality.

6. The nouns suffixed by -ismo and the names of the sciences, as:

• l'impressionismo impressionism
• la medicina medicine (medical science)
• la biologia biology.

See also the Index of Nouns with Particularities.
 
 
 

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