Nouns and Articles

In Italian most words end in a vowel (a,e,i,o,u). Names for things usually end in -o or -a: gelato (ice cream), birra (beer) If they end in -o they are called masculine nouns If they end in -a they are called feminine nouns NB. Some nouns end in -e and can be either (Learn them as you go a long) However, nouns ending in -ore are normally masculine and those ending in -zione are normally feminine. The, a and an: il (the) and un (a, an) are used with masculine nouns. la (the) and una (a, an) are used with feminine nouns. l' (the) is used with masculine or feminine nouns beginning with a vowel. Examples: il gelato (the ice cream) la birra (the beer) l'amico (the friend, male) l'amica (the friend, female) un te (a tea) una parola (a word)