Exercises for this card
Complete them: results are saved and count towards Analysis and Progress.
Noun gender: from masculine to feminine
How the feminine is formed: mobile nouns, independent nouns, common and epicene gender.
First page · four ways
The feminine forms
: Nouns for people and animals have two genders, one masculine and one feminine. The dictionary usually gives the masculine form: from this you move to the feminine in different ways.
1 · Nomi mobili
Mobile nouns form the feminine by changing the ending (the final letter). It is the most common way.
bambino → bambinaattore → attricepoeta → poetessa
2 · Indipendenti
Independent nouns have two completely different words for the masculine and the feminine.
padre → madrefratello → sorellauomo → donna
3 · Genere comune
Common-gender nouns have a single form for both genders: it is the article (or the adjective) that says whether they are masculine or feminine.
il / la cantanteil / la nipotel'artista
4 · Genere promiscuo
Epicene nouns have a single form and a single gender, which applies to both the male and the female. If needed, you add «maschio» or «femmina».
la volpe (maschio/femmina)il topol'aquila
| Maschile | Femminile | Esempi |
|---|---|---|
| Termina in... | Diventa... | Esempi |
| -o | -a | bambino → bambina, gatto → gatta, impiegato → impiegata |
| -e | -a | signore → signora, infermiere → infermiera |
| -tore | -trice | attore → attrice, pittore → pittrice, scrittore → scrittrice |
| -a / -e / -o | -essa | poeta → poetessa, leone → leonessa, avvocato → avvocatessa, principe → principessa |
| Maschile | Femminile |
|---|---|
| padre | madre |
| fratello | sorella |
| uomo | donna |
| marito | moglie |
| toro | mucca |
| montone | pecora |
Watch out for false gender changes: some words look alike but have different meanings (il colpo = a blow / la colpa = fault, blame). They are not the masculine and feminine of the same word — they are two different words.
.
.
.
, .
Ask Nova
Something unclear? Ask a question about this card.