Italian Nouns
When you begin to study Italian, you may be surprised to learn that you may already recognize a number of Italian words. Like many other European languages, English and Italian are both based on Latin, thus the similarity between the two. The following is a list of Italian nouns followed by their English meanings that illustrates these similarities:
Italian Noun / English Meaning
poeta poet
problema problem
concerto concert
artista artist
persona person
classe class
These Italian nouns appear as their English counterparts with an additional vowel on the end. English words that end with a silent “e” are translated into these nouns by adding a vowel sound on the end as well:
Italian Noun / English Meaning
rose rosa
data date
sincero sincere
vaso vase
fortunato fortunate
Italian pronunciation is also relatively easy when compared with other foreign languages. Italian nouns sound very much like their English counterparts. For example, the English “vase” is pronounced “vays” while the Italian “vaso” is pronounced “vah-so.” The only difference between the two is the Italian short “a” sound and the extra vowel sound at the end.
There are some differences between these two types of nouns as well. Italian nouns are gender-based, and have masculine or feminine forms that may change their meanings if used incorrectly. The most common masculine-related word is “il” while the feminine is “la.”The following are a few examples of Italian nouns for male and female persons that are similar to each other:
Masculine Nouns / Meanings / Feminine Nouns / Meanings
il padre father la madre mother
il nonno grandfather la nonna grandmother
il compare godfather la comare godmother
il padrino godfather la madrina godmother
il dio god la dea goddess
il patron patron la matrona matron
il ragazzo boy la ragazza girl
il bambino baby boy la bambina baby girl
il amico male friend la amica female friend
il cavalière male rider la cavallerizza female rider
In general, most Italian nouns end with a vowel. As you can see, most masculine nouns end in an “o” while most of the feminine nouns end in an “a.” Other noun endings that can denote gender include “-ione” which is generally used with feminine nouns, and the ending “-ore,” which usually designates masculine ones. Some examples of these types of nouns include:
Masculine Nouns / Meanings / Feminine Nouns / Meanings
il attore actor la televisione television
il autore author la nazione nation
il professore professor la opinione opinion
il libro book la penna pen
In order to utilize the proper gender with an Italian noun, you will probably need to memorize many of them. If you would mistake the gender of a word, a person who speaks Italian fluently will probably understand what it is that you are trying to say. If you are unsure of the pronunciation, you can pronounce it like its English counterpart and a fellow speaker will probably understand what you mean as well.
The best way to learn Italian may be to purchase a language software program. These programs can help you with the basic vocabulary that you will need to know and feature a pronunciation guide that will allow you to hear exactly the way the Italian nouns are supposed to sound. This audio method has proven to be the best way to learn to speak a foreign language fluently.
Italian nouns are easy to use once you have memorized several of them. Again, if unsure of gender or pronunciation, you should just do the best that you can and you will probably be able to make yourself understood.