Some nouns of this type are abbreviations, and have kept the gender of the
full word: cinema stands for cinematografo [m], auto for automobile [f], foto
for fotografia [f], etc. Such cases apart, there is no rule for determining gender,
which has to be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary.
7 Some nouns end in -i. The vast majority are feminine, but there are
some exceptions:
Two exceptions are l’alibi (alibi) and lo sci (ski), which are masculine.
8 Foreign nouns, unless they refer to a female, are generally masculine:
9 Occasionally, the gender of a foreign noun is the same as it is for the
corresponding Italian word:
la new wave is feminine, because onda (wave) is feminine.
la mail (e-mail message) is feminine, because posta (mail) is feminine.10 The following rules can help in determining the gender of nouns:
- All months of the year and days of the week are masculine, apart from
domenica (Sunday), which is feminine. - All names of towns and cities are feminine, apart from Il Cairo [m].
- All names of languages are masculine.
- Names of countries are normally feminine when they end in -a and
masculine when they end in any other letter:
l’analisi [f]
l’ipotesi [f]
la crisi [f]analysis
hypothesis
crisisil bar [m]
il camion [m]
il rock [m]
l’hostess [f]bar
lorry
rock (music)
stewardessla Francia [f]
la Spagna [f]
il Belgio [m]
il Paraguay [m]France
Spain
Belgium
Paraguay