Noun gender (masculine & feminine)

Il libro è sul tavolo. La casa è grande.The book is on the table. The house is big.

Every Italian noun is either masculine or feminine, and there is no neuter. The gender shows up in the article (il libro, la casa) and in the adjectives that go with the noun, so it is worth learning together with the word.

Quick shortcut: nouns in -o are usually masculine (il libro), nouns in -a are usually feminine (la casa), and nouns in -e can be either (il padre, la madre), so learn those one by one.

The endings -o and -a

This is the simplest and most useful rule. Most nouns that name people and animals follow it: il ragazzo / la ragazza (boy / girl), il gatto / la gatta (male cat / female cat).

Nouns in -e: learn the gender with the word

A noun ending in -e can be masculine or feminine, and the ending does not tell you which:

Some endings help a lot. Nouns in -zione, -sione, -tà and -tù are feminine (la stazione, la città, la gioventù), and nouns in -ore are usually masculine (il dottore, il motore). For the rest, learn the article together with the noun: il nome, la notte.

Common exceptions

• Many nouns in -ma are masculine: il problema, il programma, il sistema, il tema. They look feminine but take il (✅ il problema, ❌ la problema).
• A few nouns in -o are feminine: la mano (the hand), la radio, la foto, la moto. Some are shortened forms of longer words: la foto (from fotografia) and la moto (from motocicletta).
• Some feminine nouns of Greek origin end in -i: la crisi, la tesi, l'analisi. Learn their gender with the article.
• Some nouns for people don't change and use the article to show gender: il turista / la turista, il giornalista / la giornalista, il collega / la collega.

People and animals: natural gender and changing endings

For many nouns that refer to people and animals, Italian has separate masculine and feminine forms that follow the real person or animal. Many pairs change the ending:

• -o → -a: il ragazzo / la ragazza, il figlio / la figlia, il gatto / la gatta
• -tore → -trice: l'attore / l'attrice, il pittore / la pittrice
• -e → -essa: lo studente / la studentessa, il professore / la professoressa

Some pairs use completely different words (il padre / la madre, il fratello / la sorella, l'uomo / la donna), and some nouns have one form for both, with the article alone marking the gender (il cantante / la cantante, il giudice / la giudice).

Why gender matters

Gender decides which article you use and how adjectives end. You will meet both in the next lessons: Definite articles, Indefinite articles and Adjective agreement. For example: un libro interessante (masculine) / una casa interessante (feminine), and il ragazzo alto / la ragazza alta. The plural of nouns has its own lesson: Plural nouns.

Common mistakes

• ❌ la problema → ✅ il problema (many nouns in -ma are masculine despite the -a)
• ❌ il mano → ✅ la mano (a feminine noun that ends in -o)
• ❌ il città → ✅ la città (nouns in -tà are feminine)
• ❌ il stazione → ✅ la stazione (nouns in -zione are feminine)
• ❌ un casa → ✅ una casa (the article agrees with the noun's gender)

Quick check

Which article fits: il or la?

1. ____ libro
2. ____ casa
3. ____ problema
4. ____ mano
5. ____ stazione
6. ____ padre

Key takeaways

• Italian nouns are masculine or feminine; there is no neuter.
• Nouns in -o are usually masculine and nouns in -a usually feminine.
• Nouns in -e can be either: learn them with their article. -zione, -tà and -tù are feminine; -ore is usually masculine.
• Common exceptions: many -ma nouns are masculine (il problema); a few -o nouns are feminine (la mano, la radio).
• Gender decides the article and the adjective endings, so learn each noun together with its article.