The Guide To Gender In Italian

Anyone who begins studying the Italian language will soon find out how difficult is to deal with the grammatical gender of nouns. The first obstacle to gender in Italian is that in most cases the gender assignment is totally arbitrary. For instance, nobody can really say why the word sedia (chair) is feminine while the word tavolo (table) is masculine.

Things get even more complicated when you consider that an Italian speaker has to also find an agreement between the noun and the article. Since the word sedia is feminine, the article la is required, while the article il is the proper one for the word tavolo.

That's it? No, not at all. Italian nouns can be classified into three categories. Nouns which end with -o are usually masculine, while the ones which end with -a are feminine (singular forms). However, as with every rule, this one also has its exceptions. There are some nouns which end with -a but are masculine (il problema, il clima, il panorama, etc.), as well as there are nouns which end with -o but are feminine (la foto, la radio, la moto, etc.). The third category of the so-called regular nouns consists of nouns which end with -e. Well, they can be both masculine and feminine.

This guide will help you better understand gender in Italian. Let's get started!

Abstract nouns

My experience with beginners has shown me how tricky it can be to remember whether a noun ending in -e Is masculine or feminine. Let's start with abstract nouns.

Masculine	Feminine
*l’amore*	*l’arte*
*l’animale*	*l’attenzione*
*il bene*	*la canzone*
*il calore*	*la capitale*
*il capitale*	*la classe*
*il Carnevale*	*la colazione*
*il cereale*	*l’estate*
*il cognome*	*la fame*
*il colore*	*la fine*
*il confine*	*la frase*
*il dolore*	*la gente*
*l’errore*	*l’immigrazione*
*l’Equatore*	*l’informazione*
*il fine*	*la legge*
*il fronte*	*la lezione*
*il genere*	*la mezzanotte*
*il gregge*	*la nazione*
*il male*	*la note*
*il mese*	*l’origine*
*il Natale*	*la religione*
*il nome*	*la sete*
*l’onore*	*la specializzazione*
*l’ordine*	*la specie*
*il plurale*	*la stagione*
*il singolare*	*la superficie*
*il soprannome*
*il terrore*
*il timore*
*il valore*

A few considerations. Sometimes the same word can have a totally different meaning depending on whether it is masculine or feminine. For instance, il fine means goal/purpose, while la fine means end.

Another interesting aspect which deserves to be underlined is that we can often understand the gender of an abstract noun ending with -e by observing its last letters. Those who paid attention while reading the table might have noticed that words which end with -ore (amore, colore, errore, etc.) are masculine while words which end with -ione (attenzione, religione, stagione, etc.) are feminine. Words which end with -ale are masculine.

Inanimate objects (nonliving things)

Now let's observe nouns which describe inanimate objects.

Masculine	Feminine
*l’aspirapolvere*	*la base*
*il bicchiere*	*la botte*
*il bottone*	*la carne*
*il burrone*	*la cassaforte*
*il caffelatte*	*la chiave*
*il cannone*	*la classe*
*il carcere*	*la comune*
*il cartone*	*la fronte*
*il comune*	*la nave*
*il dente*	*la neve*
*il dolce*	*la patente*
*il fiore*	*la polvere*
*il fiume*	*la prigione*
*il forte*	*la radice*
*il giornale*	*la stampante*
*il lampione*	*la televisione*
*il lampone*	*la torre*
*il latte*	*la trave*
*il limone*	*la vernice*
*il maglione*	*la vite*
*il mare*
*il mattone*
*il marciapiede*
*il medaglione*
*il miele*
*il minestrone*
*il mobile*
*l’ospedale*
*il paese*
*il pallone*
*il pane*
*il pantalone*
*il pepe*
*il pesce*
*il piede*
*il ponte*
*il rame*
*il ristorante*
*il salame*
*il sale*
*il sangue*
*il sapone*
*il sole*
*lo spumante*
*il tagliere*
*il televisore*
*il timone*
*il volante*

It is easy to notice that masculine is more common than feminine for inanimate objects. Another thing it is possible to find out by reading the table is that words ending with -one (bottone, mattone, pallone, sapone, etc.) are masculine.

Animate nouns (living things) - Animals

Now it is time to observe animate nouns, animals first.

Masculine	Feminine
*il bisonte*	*l’ape*
*il bue*	*la lepre*
*il cane*	*la lince*
*il cinghiale*	*la serpe*
*il coyote*	*la tigre*
*l’elefante*	*la volpe*
*il leone*
*il maiale*
*il montone*
*il muflone*
*il pavone*
*il pesce*
*il piccione*
*il rinoceronte*
*lo scorpione*
*il serpente*

Again, masculine nouns referring to animals are much more common than feminine ones (many end with -one).

Animate nouns (living things) - Human beings

To conclude, we must observe animate nouns referring to human beings.

Masculine	Feminine
*l’abitante*	*l’abitante*
*l’amministratore*	*l’amministratrice*
*il cameriere*	*la cantante*
*il cantante*	*la custode*
*il carabiniere*	*la direttrice*
*il cassiere*	*l’insegnante*
*il consigliere*	*la giudice*
*il custode*	*la madre*
*il difensore*	*la moglie*
*il direttore*	*la nipote*
*il dottore*	*la parente*
*l’eroe*	*la scrittrice*
*il genitore*	*la senatrice*
*il giudice*	*la traditrice*
*l’infermiere*	*la venditrice*
*l’insegnante*
*il nipote*
*l’oste*
*il padre*
*il padrone*
*il parente*
*il pasticciere*
*il pastore*
*il portiere*
*il presidente*
*il prete*
*il principe*
*il professore*
*il re*
*lo scrittore*
*il senatore*
*il signore*
*lo studente*
*il traditore*
*il venditore*
*il vigile*

The gender agreement here is obviously determined by the biological sex. Anyhow, it is possible to notice that masculine nouns ending with -e are really used to refer to professions, but there is something more here than the table can tell us.

Words which end with -ante or -ente have the same form for both masculine and feminine: abitante, insegnante, parente, etc. Also custode, giudice and nipote have only one form for the two genders. Instead, masculine words ending with -tore really often end with -trice when they are feminine: direttore/direttrice, scrittore/scrittrice, traditore/traditrice, etc. There are exceptions, by the way: dottore/dottoressa, pastore/pastora.

Well, what have we learned?

Gender in Italian grammar is totally arbitrary for abstract and inanimate nouns.
Nouns can be classified into three categories (there are exceptions)

nouns ending with -o (masculine/singular)
nouns ending with -a (feminine/singular)
nouns ending with -e (both masculine and feminine/singular).

Nouns can have a completely different meaning depending on whether they are masculine or feminine (il capitale/la capitale, il fine/la fine).
Nouns ending with -ore, -one or -ale are usually masculine.
Nouns ending with -ione are usually feminine (especially abstract nouns).
Nouns ending with -e are often used to refer to professions.

Ciao!

Image Sources

Hero image by Sam Howzit (CC BY 2.0), cropped and colors edited