Parliamo Italiano : Gender and Articles

[spacedonkey]

Gender
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All nouns in Italian are either masculine or feminine.

In most cases, nouns ending in a are feminine and nouns ending in o are masculine.

• la finestra (the window)
• il portello (the door)

Nouns ending in e may be either masculine or feminine - so with those you just have to remember which is what!

• il cane (the dog)
• la chiave (the key)

If there is an adjective describing a noun, that has to change to agree with the gender of the noun it is describing.

• la finestra rotonda (the round window)
• il portello aperto (the open door)
• la chiave arrugginita (the rusty key)
• il cane vizioso (the vicious dog)

Articles
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INDEFINITE ARTICLE

In Italian "a" and "an" are "un" before a masculine word and "una" before a feminine word.

If a feminine word begins with a vowel, you use "un'"

If a masculine word begins with a Z or begins with S followed by another consonant, you use "uno"

• uno studente (a student)
• uno zoologo (a zoologist)

DEFINITE ARTICLE

In Italian "the" is "il" before masculine words beginning with consonants and "lo" before masculine words beginning with Z or beginning with S followed by another consonant.

"La" is used before feminine words.

For any words beginning with a vowel "l'" is used, whether masculine or feminine.

Gender and Adjectives
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The adjectives ending in -o change to -a to form feminine:

* piccolo : piccola - little, young (baby)
* cattivo : cattiva  - bad
* caro : cara  - dear

Many adjectives have common form for masculine and feminine ending in -e:

* uomo felice - happy man 
* foglio verde - green sheet of paper  
* ragazzo danese - Danish boy  
* diario personale - personal diary  
* sforzo comune - common effort  
* donna felice - happy woman 
* carta verde - green paper 
* ragazza danese - Danish girl 
* camera personale - personal chamber 
* causa comune - common cause 

The adjectives in -ista also have one form for masculine and feminine:

* partito comunista (m.) 
* organizzazione comunista (f.)

\link{Exhaustive description of noun gender rules}

bugger

\link{http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Noun.html\Exhaustive Description of Noun Gender Rules}

I must be some sort of weirdo because (a) I am entirely posting to myself and (b) I am sitting here enjoying reading about "the Latin Periphrastic Degrees"

ah there you are, did you see the Does Anyone Want to Learn Italian thread?

Oh.

It's ok I wasn't asking you to do anything. Thought you might have some good tips though.

\link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=1900&threadid=48268&stamp=041213132955\è qui}