7 ARTICOLI, NOMI E AGGETTIVI: GENERE E NUMERO
nouns adjectives
Rossella Pescatori; Caren Bernezet Parrish; Shahrzad Zahedi; and William J. Carrasco
Learning Objective
- In this section, you will learn about gender agreement with articles, nouns and adjectives.
Studiamo !
Il genere e gli articoli indeterminativi:
Il numero
| Genere | singolare | plurale |
|---|---|---|
| maschile |
-o -e |
-i -i |
| femminile |
-a -e |
–e -i |
Most Italian nouns ending in -a are feminine. Most Italian nouns ending in -o are masculine.
I nomi e gli aggettivi
1. A noun (nome) is typically defined as a person, place, thing or concept. More importantly, it is defined by its relationship to other words around it. So, for example, any word that follows the word the, a(n) or some is a noun: the people, the mystery, the tree, the anguish, a car, an idea, some ideas, some books. A subject noun is when a noun is the subject of a verb. For example: “The dog” eats; “The phone” rings. (See verbs and subjects below).
(a) All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine. These are grammatical genders, not biological or social ones. Thus, un tavolo (a table) is masculine and una sedia (a chair) is feminine; la luna (the moon) is feminine, but il sole (the sun) is masculine.
When a noun refers specifically to a human being, then the person’s gender does come into play. For example: l’uomo (the man) vs. la donna (the woman), l’amico (the male friend) vs. l’amica (the female friend); il cantante (the male singer) vs. la cantante (the female singer).
(b) You form a plural noun changing the final letter
o=> i a=> e e=> i
Adjectives (aggettivi) modify how we understand nouns with which they are associated. Notice how our understanding of the noun casa (house) changes when we keep adding adjectives to it:
casa (house)
la casa (the house) = not a house, but the house
la grande casa (the big house) = not the small one, the big one
la grande casa blu (the big, blue house) = the big and blue one, etc.
(a) In Italian, most adjectives agree in gender (masculine vs. feminine) and number (singular vs. plural) with the nouns they describe. This is called accordo in genere e numero (gender and number agreement). Notice the differences between the adjectives used in the following sentences (adjectives are underlined):
Marco è bello e intelligente (Marco is handsome and intelligent.)
Fabiana è bella e intelligente. (Fabiana is beautiful and intelligent.)
Marco e Fabiana sono belli e intelligenti. (Marco and Fabiana are beautiful and intelligent.)
Il libro è grande. (The book is big.)
La casa è grande. (The house is big.)
Le case sono grandi. (The houses are big.)
| Genere | singulare | plurale |
|---|---|---|
| maschile | noioso | noiosi |
| femminile | noiosa | noiose |
While adjectives like grande or divertente, have only two endings, one singular and one plural.
(b) Italian adjectives are usually placed after the noun they modify. Some adjectives are only placed before the noun, while others may go either before or after. But be careful! Sometimes a noun changed meaning depending on if it goes before or after the noun. For example, compare: un uomo grande (a tall man) vs. un grande uomo (a great man).
