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Essential Italian Grammar – Nouns

In Italian, nouns can be divided into two categories – nomi concreti (concrete nouns) and nomi astratti (abstract nouns). Concrete nouns represent the names of those things that can be appreciated with our senses, while abstract nouns represent the names of those things like qualities, sentiments, ideas, or concepts.

A second classification divides names into three groups – nomi comuni, nomi propri and nomi collettivi.

The first class contains common names, those names which do not refer to a specific person, animal or plant. It contains generic nouns like gatto (cat), cane (dog), rosa (rose), albero (tree), ossigeno (oxygen), sangue (blood) and many more.

The second class contains all that the first category does not, so it is formed by people or pet’s first names and surnames, city names, names of animal and vegetal species and so on. Such names point at a certain thing or individual in a specific way. It is easy to spot them as they have a capitalized initial – Dante Alighieri, Mario Rossi, Firenze, Roma, Fido, Minù, Pinus Silvestris...    

The third class contains those names used to indicate a group of elements or individuals of the same type –gregge (flock), gente (people), vasellame (pottery), esercito (army).

Gender- genere

Nouns denoting living beings have a gender, which can be either femminile or maschile (feminine or masculine). Inanimate objects also have a genere, which is conventionally assigned.

Generally speaking, words ending in –o are masculine, while those ending in –a are feminine.

NOMI COMUNI

Word endings change for the plural form:

NOMI PROPRI

Looking at the tables above, one could think that all masculine names end in –o and –i, while all feminine ones end in –a and –e. This is not entirely true, as some names also present different endings (masculine singular names or person names ending in –a or –e and feminine ones ending in –o, -i and –e).
This means that ending in a certain vowel is not indicative of it being part of a certain grammatical gender and/or number.

NOMI COMUNI

NOMI PROPRI

As such variations are extremely common, a dictionary is quite useful to solve any doubt.

For inanimate objects, there are some general rules.
The following groups of names are usually masculine:

• Tree names ending in –o and –e like melo (apple tree), pino (pine tree), acero (maple), faggio (beech), noce (walnut), salice (willow).
• Metal names like oro (gold), argento (silver), platino (platinum), rame (copper), piombo (lead).
• Cardinal or compass points names like nord/settentrione (north), sud/meridione (south), est/levante (est), ovest/ponente (west) and all their combinations.
• Weekday's (apart from Domenica, Saturday, which is feminine) and the names of the months.
• The names of lakes, rivers and mountains, like Monte Rosa, Gran Sasso, Tevere, Po, Danubio, Garda, Trasimeno. Exceptions are Loira, Senna, Garonna and some others.

The following groups are usually feminine:

• Fruit names such as pera (pear), mela (apple), banana (banana), arancia (orange), uva (grape). Exceptions are mirtillo (blueberry), ribes (red/blackcurrant), lampone (raspberry), limone (lemon), ananas (pineapple), which are masculine and denote both the tree and the fruit it produces.
• The name of the subjects and the abstract notions such as Fisica (Physics), Matematica (Mathematics), Lettere (Arts), Storia (History) and bontà (goodness), tolleranza (tolerance), forza (power), fede (faith) and so on.
• The names of religious festivals like Pasqua (Easter), Pentecoste (Pentecost). Exceptions are Natale (Christmas) and Ognissanti (Halloween), which are masculine.
• The names of the continents such as Africa, Asia, Europa; city names like Roma, Firenze, New York, Praga (Prague), Parigi (Paris), Atene (Athens);  island names such as Sicilia (Sicily) and Sardegna (Sardinia); region names such as Marche, Lombardia, Calabria. Exceptions are Belgio (Belgium), Brasile (Brazil), Giappone (Japan), Egitto (Egypt), Molise, Piemonte, Veneto and some others, which are masculine.

Number – numero

As mentioned above, Italian names can be singolare (singular) or plurale (plural). To turn a singular noun into a plural one, it is necessary to change the word ending.
The general rules are the following:

• Masculine singular names ending in –a, –e and –o change their ending vowel to –i

• Feminine singular names ending in –a change their ending vowel to –e

• Feminine singular nouns ending in –o and –e change the ending vowel to –i

• For those singular names of both genders that end in –i, for the ones ending with a consonant, and for the ones ending with an accented vowel, the plural and the singular form coincide. They are called sostantivi invariabili (invariable nouns).

Bearing in mind these general rules, it is good to also remember the following peculiarities and their exceptions. In fact, each of them presents at least one exception:

• Nouns ending in –io have a plural ending in –i.

• Nouns ending in –ìo have a plural ending in –ii.

• Nouns ending in –ie do not have a different plural form.

• Names in –ca and –ga maintain the guttural sound in the plural form. 

• Nouns ending in vocal + –co have a plural ending in –ci and/or –chi.

• Nouns ending in –go and –co almost always end in –ghi and –chi in the plural form.

• Nouns of Greek origin ending in –ologo and –ofago can have a plural form ending in either –ghi or –gi.

• Nouns ending in –cìa or –gìa have a plural form ending in –cìe and –gìe.

• Nouns ending in –cia and –gia have a plural form in –cie and –gie if the group is preceded by a vocal; in –ce and –ge if the group is preceded by a consonant.  

Some nouns do not have either the singular or the plural form. They are called nomi difettivi (defective, as they lack either form).  Here are some examples.

Compound names – Nomi composti

Compound names are the result of the union of two words. They present a variety of rules that should be remembered, but that actually are problematic even for mother tongue speakers.

• In a noun composed of two nouns, it is only the second one which turns to the plural form.

• Nouns composed by the word capo + noun which is a complement of capo, turn capo to plural – capi.

Exceptions to this rule are words like:

• Noun composed by a name and an adjective turn to the plural of both elements.

Exceptions are:

• Compound words formed by a verb + a plural do not change in the plural form.

• When the adjective precedes the substantive, only the second term is turned to the plural form.

• If the substantive is in singular form, sometimes the compound remains as it is in both forms.

Sometimes it changes:

• Compounds formed by two invariable elements and an adjective usually do not change, but there’s not a fixed rule.

Altered names – nomi alterati

A name can be modified with suffixes to partially modify its meaning. There are five basic types of modification.

• Augmentative - accrescitivo

Transmits the idea that the person, the thing or the animal is bigger than usual. It is formed with the suffix –one (masculine) –ona (feminine).

• Diminutive – diminutivo

Transmits the idea that the person, the animal or the thing is smaller and/or cuter than usual. It can express affection. It is formed with the masculine suffixes –ino, –etto, –ello  or the feminine suffixes –ina, –etta, –ella.

• Vezzeggiativo

It is a form of diminutive and it is used to show affection and fondness. It is formed with the suffix –uccio (masculine) or –uccia (feminine).

• Pejorative – dispregiativo

It is used to say that a thing, a person or an animal is bad, and to express disgust towards it. It is formed with the masculine suffixes –accio, –astro, –attolo, ­–ucolo; or the feminine suffixes –accia, –astra, –ucola, –attola.

Some names look just like nomi alterati, but they actually are not! Their name is falsi derivati (false derivates) and they have a meaning of their own, not linked to the base form they seem to derive from.