A0 · Section 2 of 4

The gender melody

Match a noun with its article, one step at a time.

Italian nouns have grammatical gender, not necessarily a person's gender. Learn the article with each noun; endings are clues, not guarantees.

• il

  (eel)

  = the — masculine, singular

  Before most masculine consonant-starting nouns.

• i

  (ee)

  = the — masculine, plural

  The plural partner of il. Many -o nouns become -i.

• la

  (lah)

  = the — feminine, singular

  Before feminine nouns starting with a consonant.

• le

  (leh)

  = the — feminine, plural

  The plural partner of la and feminine l’. Many -a nouns become -e.

• l’

  (l)

  = the — singular, before a vowel

  The l sound joins the noun: l’acqua sounds like lahk-kwah. Used for masculine and feminine singular nouns; never for plurals.

• un

  (oon)

  = a / an — masculine, singular

  No apostrophe, even before a vowel. Some masculine nouns use uno instead.

• una

  (oo-nah)

  = a — feminine, singular

  Before a consonant. Before a vowel use un’ instead: un’amica.