Italian Nouns

Nouns are words used to name or identify a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. Examples include: girl, hat, coat, weather, picture, coffee, hotel.

Nouns are one of the most basic parts of speech They can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Italian nouns are divided in common, nomi comuni, and proper, nomi propri.

So this free lesson is all about naming things. By the time you're done you'll know all about common and proper nouns, as well as how to identify masculine and feminine versions. You'll also discover the mysterious third category of nouns.

Resources for further reading:

• Improve your pronunciation of Italian words
• How you can learn Italian faster

How to pronounce Italian Nouns

Here are some of the most basic Italian nouns to get you started. Further on in this lesson we will look at the pronunciation of these and more Italian nouns.

• Ragazzo - Kid
• Dottore - Doctor
• Cane - Dog
• Fiume - River
• Bellezza - Beauty
• Speranza - Hope
• Giustizia - Justice
• Tavolo - Table
• Museo - Museum
• Libro - Book

Let's get started...

Common and Proper Italian nouns

Nomi comuni indicate persons, animals, places, things like ragazzo - kid, dottore - doctor, cane - dog, fiume - river, or abstract ideas like bellezza - beauty, speranza - hope, giustizia - justice, etc.

The nomi propri indicate specific beings or things, which are characterized by a proper name: Italia, Roma, Paolo, Marco, etc.

Nouns can be divided also for genre, masculine and feminine, and number, singular and plural.

Most of the nouns agree with the following rules:

• Masculine nouns end with –o for singular, -i for plural.
• Feminine nouns end with –a for singular, -e for plural.
• A third category of nouns end with –e for singular, -i for plural; they can be masculine or feminine, according to the vocabulary.

Regular Italian Nouns: rules and examples

Masculine nouns ending with –o (singular)

Masculine nouns ending with –i (plural)

Feminine nouns ending with –a (singular)

Feminine nouns ending with –e (plural)

Third Case nouns ending with –e (singular).

These can be masculine or feminine, according to the vocabulary.

Third Case nouns ending with –i (plural).

These can be masculine or feminine, according to the vocabulary.

Irregular Italian nouns: rules and examples

Many Italians nouns are irregular. Here are some examples.

1. The following nouns have the same form at singular as well as at plural:

Monosyllable nouns

Nouns ending with a vowel with accent

Foreign nouns

Nouns ending with –i

Feminine nouns ending with –o

Masculine neologism ending with –o

Feminine nouns ending with –ie

2. Masculine nouns with –ma at the singular end with –mi at the plural.

3. Feminine nouns ending with –ca and –ga at singular end with –che and –ghe at plural

4. Masculine nouns ending with –co and –go:

• end with –chi and –ghi at plural if the accent is on the second last syllable
• end with –ci and –gi at plural when the accent is on the third last syllable

Some words, like amico - pl. amici, or dialogo - pl. dialoghi are exceptions.

Italian nouns which seem to have a double gender

Some nouns, which have the same stem and end with –o or –a, seem to indicate the masculine or feminine version of the same word. That’s not always true; the meaning can be completely different.

Some examples:

For more on Italian grammar check out these lessons!

• Italian prepositions can be tricky. This lesson unravels the trickery!
• Italian pronouns are a must-know. Get started here.
• How scary is Italian verb conjugation? Not too scary after this lesson!

A presto!

Maria Di Lorenzi: Rocket Italian