6 Elements of a Sentence
Masculine -ore Equals Feminine -essa
Some masculine nouns that refer to a person’s profession and that end in
-ore change to -essa in the feminine.
Masculine Feminine
dottore doctor dottoressa (female) doctor
professore professor professoressa (female) professor
Nouns Ending in -ista
Nouns ending in -ista can be either masculine or feminine, according to
whether they refer to a male or a female. In this case the article differentiates
masculine and feminine. These nouns generally refer to professionals.
Masculine Feminine
(il) dentista (la) dentista dentist
(il) farmacista (la) farmacista pharmacist
(il) pianista (la) pianista pianist
Exercise
K
1.1
Write the appropriate endings for the masculine and feminine nouns.
1. cas 7. giornal
2. ragazz (m.) 8. sapon
3. zain 9. pan
4. scuol 10. ciliegi (fruit)
5. specchi 11. fi c
6. penn 12. sal
Plural Nouns
When forming the plural of Italian nouns, the fi nal vowel changes to indicate
a change in number.
Masculine Nouns
For regular masculine nouns that end in -o, the endings change to -i in the
plural.