I sostantivi: Masculine and Feminine Singular Nouns
A.All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine and most will end in a vowel. Generally, nouns ending in -o are masculine and nouns ending in -a are feminine. The nouns which end in -e are either masculine or feminine. Even though there is no surefire way to determine the gender of a word in question, there are some rules.
- Nouns ending in -tà, -trice, and -zione are feminine.
La scrittrice non abita più qui.
The writer doesn’t live here anymore.
Vivere in città può essere stressante.
Living in the city can be stressful.
La posizione del loto è un’asana di yoga.
Lotus position is a yoga asana. - Nouns ending in -i, -ie, -ione, and -ù are feminine.
L’analisi del soggetto manca di senso.
The analysis of the subject lacks sense.
Non esiste la fonte della gioventù.
The fountain of youth doesn’t exist.
La specie umana cerca di capirsi sempre meglio.
The human race always tries to better understand itself.
Nella mia opinione costa troppo.
In my opinion, it costs too much.