Noun gender
Every Italian noun is masculine or feminine, and the ending usually tells you which.
As a working rule, nouns ending in -o are masculine (il libro) and nouns ending in -a are feminine (la casa). Nouns ending in -e can be either (il nome, masculine; la notte, feminine), so learn them together with their article.
The rule has exceptions you will meet early: la mano (the hand, feminine), il problema (masculine, like most nouns in -ma of Greek origin), la foto and la moto (shortened feminine words), il cinema (masculine).
Gender is grammatical, not logical — il tavolo (table) is masculine and la sedia (chair) is feminine simply by convention. Some nouns change gender with meaning: il fine (the aim) versus la fine (the end).
Examples
- il ragazzo, la ragazza the boy, the girl
- la mano the hand (feminine despite -o)
- il problema the problem (masculine despite -a)
- il ristorante, la stazione the restaurant, the station (both end in -e)
Common mistake
Assuming every -a noun is feminine: il problema, il tema and il sistema are masculine. Learn problem nouns with their article attached.