What are the Italian masculine nouns? How do you tell them apart from feminine ones?
Tavolo
Table
Cielo
Sky
Giornalista
Journalist
Prigione
Prison
Learn everything you need to know about them here!
Table of Contents
Italian masculine nouns
As you probably already know, Italian nouns can be either masculine or feminine.
Usually, nouns for male people and animals usually are of masculine gender, while nouns for female people and animals are of feminine gender.
Uomo and bambino, for example, are masculine.
Uomo
Man
Bambino
Male kid
And donna and bambina are feminine.
Donna
Woman
Bambina
Female kid
For all other nouns, it’s not nature that defines gender. It’s grammar itself. Most times, you will be able to guess the gender of an Italian noun by its ending letter, making Italian masculine nouns easy to spot. Let’s see why.
Italian masculine nouns ending in -o
The vast majority of Italian masculine nouns ends in -o. Very few feminine nouns end in -o.
| Masculine noun | English |
|---|---|
| Vaso | Vase |
| Quadro | Painting |
| Muro | Wall |
| Foglio | Sheet of paper |
| Libro | Book |
| Albero | Tree |
| Telefono | Phone |
Il muro è alto.
The wall is high.
Mi serve un foglio bianco.
I need a white paper.
Potresti prendere il telefono?
Could you pick up the phone?
Masculine nouns are commonly preceded by a masculine definite article or a masculine indefinite article in Italian.
Italian masculine nouns ending in -e
Italian nouns ending in -e can either be masculine or feminine and some of them cannot be told apart.
Serpente
Snake
Would you be able to say if serpente is masculine or feminine?
In fact, one of the nouns that you’ve seen right at the beginning of this article is a feminine noun: prigione.
We say il serpente, with a masculine article, because the noun is masculine.
And we say la prigione, with a feminine article, because the noun is feminine.
Other masculine nouns in -e are…
| Masculine noun | English |
|---|---|
| Cane | Dog |
| Elefante | Elephant |
| Pane | Bread |
| Ponte | Bridge |
| Scorpione | Scorpion |
L’elefante è un animale che ha un’ottima memoria.
The elephant is an animal that has an excellent memory.
Ti piace il pane fatto in casa?
Do you like homemade bread?
Il ponte è stato costruito in due mesi.
The bridge was built in two months.
You will have to learn the gender by heart for words in -e that have an unpredictable gender that cannot be inferred by context, as sometimes you will be able to guess the correct gender depending on the meaning of the noun itself.
Let’s see how.
Italian masculine nouns in -ale, -è, -ile, -one and -ore
Nouns that end in -ale, -è, -ile, -one and -ore are usually masculine.
| Masculine noun | English |
|---|---|
| Canale | Channel |
| Caffè | Coffee |
| Bacile | Basin |
| Limone | Lemon |
| Onore | Honor |
| Dolore | Pain |
Bevo sempre il caffè a colazione.
I always drink coffee at breakfast.
Taglia questo limone a fette, per favore.
Please slice this lemon up.
Italian masculine nouns ending in a consonant
Italian nouns ending in a consonant are usually loan words from other languages. Almost all foreign words are masculine.
| Masculine noun | English |
|---|---|
| Computer | Computer |
| Yogurt | Yogurt |
| Hotel | Hotel |
| Film | Film |
| Bar | Bar |
Lavoro al computer.
I work at the computer.
Mangio sempre uno yogurt dopo cena.
I always eat a yogurt after dinner.
Hai visto quel nuovo film?
Have you seen that new movie?
Job professions in -iere and -ore
All Italian words about job professions that end in –iere and -ore are masculine, as these refer to male people doing the job.
| Masculine noun | English |
|---|---|
| Pittore | Painter |
| Barbiere | Barber |
| Attore | Attrice |
| Pompiere | Firefighter |
| Cameriere | Waiter |
| Muratore | Construction worker |
| Professore | Professor |
Mio papà fa il pittore.
My dad is a painter.
L’attore sta studiando il copione.
The actor is studying the script.
Ho sempre sognato di fare il professore.
I’ve always dreamed of being a professor.
Job professions in -ista
Words ending in -ista that refer to job professions can be either masculine or feminine depending on the natural gender of the worker.
Take giornalista, for example. It can be a male noun (il giornalista, the male journalist) if you’re talking about a man and a female noun (la giornalista, the female journalist) if you’re addressing a woman.
| Masculine noun | English |
|---|---|
| Giornalista | Journalist |
| Barista | Bartender |
| Artista | Artist |
| Musicista | Musician |
| Velocista | Sprinter |
Il giornalista parla al microfono.
The journalist speaks into the microphone.
L’artista dipinge un quadro.
The artist paints a painting.
Masculine nouns in -a
Since -a is the main feminine ending in Italian, you won’t find many masculine nouns ending with this letter. There are very, very few of them.
| Masculine noun | English |
|---|---|
| Clima | Climate |
| Sistema | System |
| Problema | Problem |
| Amalgama | Mixture, combination |
| Poema | Poem |
Com’è il clima a Roma?
What’s the climate like in Rome?
Huston, abbiamo un problema.
Huston, we have a problem.
And that’s it with the Italian masculine nouns! If you still have any doubts, feel free to leave a comment.
What next?
Now that you’ve seen how the Italian masculine nouns work, you might want to keep learning Italian online with these free Italian resources:
Or you might also want an excellent offline Italian grammar resource to take with you at all times (Amazon).
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