Italian masculine nouns

How to spot masculine nouns in Italian

As you probably already know, Italian nouns can be either masculine or feminine.

Usually, nouns for males and male animals are masculine, while nouns for females and female animals feminine.

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 determines gender. It’s the grammar itself. Most of the time, you can guess the gender of an Italian noun by its last letter, which makes Italian masculine nouns easy to recognize. Let’s see why.


Italian masculine nouns ending in -o

The vast majority of Italian masculine nouns end in -o. Very few feminine nouns end in -o.

Masculine nouns in Italian are usually preceded by a masculine definite article or a masculine indefinite article.

Masculine nounEnglish
VasoVase
QuadroPainting
MuroWall
FoglioSheet of paper
LibroBook
AlberoTree
TelefonoPhone

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?

flower vase with a green, spiky flower

Italian masculine nouns ending in -e

Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, and some are indistinguishable.

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 ending in -e are…

Masculine nounEnglish
CaneDog
ElefanteElephant
PaneBread
PonteBridge
ScorpioneScorpion

L’elefante è un animale che ha un’ottima memoria.
The elephant is an animal with 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 need to memorize the gender of words ending in -e that have an unpredictable gender that cannot be inferred from the context, because sometimes you will be able to guess the correct gender by the meaning of the noun itself.


Italian masculine nouns ending in -ale, -è, -ile, -one and -ore

Nouns ending in -ale, -è, -ile, -one and -ore are usually masculine.

Masculine nounEnglish
CanaleChannel
CaffèCoffee
BacileBasin
LimoneLemon
OnoreHonor
DolorePain

Bevo sempre il caffè a colazione.
I always drink coffee when I have breakfast.

Taglia questo limone a fette, per favore.
Please slice this lemon.

masculine nouns in italian - coffee machine dripping and a steaming cup

Italian masculine nouns ending with a consonant

Italian nouns that end in a consonant are usually loanwords from other languages. Almost all foreign words are masculine.

Masculine nounEnglish
ComputerComputer
YogurtYogurt
HotelHotel
FilmFilm
BarBar

Lavoro al computer.
I work at the computer.

Mangio sempre uno yogurt dopo cena.
I always eat yogurt after dinner.

Hai visto quel nuovo film?
Have you seen that new movie?


Job titles in -iere and -ore

All Italian words that describe job titles that end in –iere and -ore are masculine, because they refer to males doing the job.

Masculine nounEnglish
PittorePainter
BarbiereBarber
AttoreAttrice
PompiereFirefighter
CameriereWaiter
MuratoreConstruction worker
ProfessoreProfessor

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 becoming a professor.

a barber drying up someone's hair - masculine nouns in italian

Job titles ending with -ista

Words ending in -ista that refer to job titles can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the biological gender of the worker.

Take giornalista, for example. It can be a masculine noun (il giornalista, the male journalist) when you’re talking about a man and a feminine noun (la giornalista, the female journalist) when you’re talking about a woman.

Masculine nounEnglish
GiornalistaJournalist
BaristaBartender
ArtistaArtist
MusicistaMusician
VelocistaSprinter

Il giornalista parla al microfono.
The journalist speaks into the microphone.

L’artista dipinge un quadro.
The artist paints a picture.


Masculine nouns ending 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 nounEnglish
ClimaClimate
SistemaSystem
ProblemaProblem
AmalgamaMixture, combination
PoemaPoem

Com’è il clima a Roma?
What’s the climate like in Rome?

Huston, abbiamo un problema.
Huston, we have a problem.


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