උපග්‍රන්ථය:ඉතාලි නාම පද

Inflection

Italian nouns are usually considered as having not a proper inflection system, having only the nominative case, however, they can be inflected by gender and by number.

Gender and number

Italian nouns have two grammatical genders (masculine and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural).

Except for some loanwords as würstel from German, computer from English and gilet from French, all Italian nouns have a suffix to distinguish between genders and numbers.

Nouns with both masculine and feminine genders

Generally Italian noun which have both masculine and feminine genders are inflected as in the following tables:

	masculine	feminine
singular	-o	-a
plural	-i	-e

but dio (“god, deity”)/dei (“gods, deities”)/dea (“goddess”)/dee (“goddesses”), or

	masculine	feminine
singular	-e	-e
plural	-i	-i

or, as signore (“gentleman”)/signori (“gentlemen”)/signora (“gentlewoman, lady”)/signore (“gentlewomen, ladies”),

	masculine	feminine
singular	-e	-a
plural	-i	-e

or, as sci (“ski, skiing”)/sci (“skis”)/scia (“trail”)/scie (“trails”),

	masculine	feminine
singular	-i	-ia
plural	-i	-ie

Words penultimate stressed which ends by -io (except -glio and -gnio) (pronounced IPA^(key): /jo/):

	masculine	feminine
singular	-io IPA(key): /jo/	-ia IPA(key): /ja/
plural	-i or (dated) -î or (dated) -ii IPA(key): /ji/	-ie IPA(key): /je/

Govern rank nouns, some profession nouns, and leone, as their translations in English, are inflected as in the following tables:

	masculine	feminine
singular	-e	-essa
plural	-i	-esse

for govern rank nouns as principe (“prince”)/principessa (“princess”), conte (“count”)/contessa (“countess”), presidente (“president”)/presidentessa, ..., but re (“king, kings”)/regina (“queen”), some profession nouns, dottore (“doctor”)/dottoressa and professore (“professor”)/professoressa, and leone (“lion”)/leonessa (“lioness”), or

	masculine	feminine
singular	-tore	-trice
plural	-tori	-trici

for profession nouns as attore (“actor”)/attrice (“actress”), direttore (“director, manager”)/direttrice (“female director, manageress”) and presentatore (“presenter”)/presentatrice.

Other examples of nouns with irregular gender "inflection" are marito (“husband”)/mariti (“husbands”)/moglie (“wife”)/mogli (“wifes”), uomo (“man”)/uomini (“men”)/donna (“woman”)/donne (“women”)

Masculine nouns

Both masculine singular nouns ending by -o or by -e have a plural by -i.

Masculine nouns penultimate stressed ending by -io pronounced IPA^(key): /jo/ (except -glio and -gnio) have plural by -i or (dated since half of the XX century) -î or -ii, both pronounced IPA^(key): /ji/.

Masculine singular nouns ending by -e have a truncated form (rare in familiar speech, more common in polite speech), for example signore/signor (“gentleman, mister”)/signori (“gentlemen, misters”)/signora (“gentlewoman, lady, miss”)/signore (“gentlewomen, ladies, misses”).

	pattern in -o	pattern in -e
		with no truncated forms	with truncated forms
singular	-o	-e	-e/-Ø
plural	-i

Feminine nouns

Feminine singular nouns ending by -a have a plural by -e.

Feminine singular nouns ending by -e have a plural by -i.

	pattern in -a	pattern in -e
singular	-a	-e
plural	-e	-i

Nouns invariable by number

Are invariable by number nouns ending by stressed vowel (stresses in monosyllable nouns may be implied) (re (“king”), re (musical note), tè (“the”), età (“age”), caffè (“coffee”), città (“city”), gru, grù (“crane”), sci (“ski”), virtù, ...), nouns ending by -i (analisi (“analisys”), brindisi (“toast (salute type)”), ...) or by -ie (serie (“series”), specie (“species”), ...) (except -glie), masculine nouns ending by -a (boa, cinema (“cinema movie”), gorilla, koala, ..., but problema (“problem”)/problemi (“problems”)), feminine noun ending by -o (auto (“car”), dinamo (“dynamo”), foto (“photo”), radio), nouns (mainly loanwords from germanic languages or from French) ending by consonant or semiconsonant, some masculine bisyllabic noun ending by -o (euro).

Nouns with -c-, -ci-, -g- or -gi- in the last syllable which become respectively -ch-, -c-, -gh- and -g- in the plural

Depending by the etymology, nouns with a c or a g in the last syllable may have a gradation in the written form to avoid apophony in the pronunciation.

	masculine nouns ending by -o				feminine nouns ending by -a
singular	-co IPA(key): /ko/	-cio IPA(key): /t͡ʃo/	-go IPA(key): /ɡo/	-gio IPA(key): /d͡ʒo/	-ca IPA(key): /ka/	-cia IPA(key): /t͡ʃa/	-ga IPA(key): /ɡa/	-gia IPA(key): /d͡ʒa/
plural	-chi IPA(key): /ki/	-ci IPA(key): /t͡ʃi/	-ghi IPA(key): /ɡi/	-gi IPA(key): /d͡ʒi/	-che IPA(key): /ke/	-ce IPA(key): /t͡ʃe/	-ghe IPA(key): /ɡe/	-ge IPA(key): /d͡ʒe/

Examples are micio (“cat”)/mici (“cats”)/micia (“female cat”)/micie (“female cats”), amico (“friend”)/amici (“friends”)/amica (“female friend”)/amiche (“female friends”), bosco (“wooded area”)/boschi (“wooded areas”), ceco (“Czech person”)/cechi (“Czech persons”)/ceca (“female Czech person”)/ceche (“female Czech persons”), cuccia (“house for dog(s)”)/cucce (“houses for dog(s)”), fuga (“escape, leak, leakage”)/fughe (“escapes, leaks, leakages”).

Alterations

Italian nouns can be altered using suffixes, not all the Italian nouns have standard alterations.

masculine singular	no alterations	diminutivo (“diminutive”)	accrescitivo (“augmentative”)
no alterations	-o or -e/-Ø	-ino	-one
vezzeggiativo (“meliorative”)	-ello or -etto	-uccio, -uzzo, -ellino, -ettino, -inello or -inetto	-ellone, -ettone, -onello or -onetto
dispregiativo (“pejorative”)	-accio	-accino or -inaccio	accione or -onaccio

masculine plural	no alterations	diminutivo (“diminutive”)	accrescitivo (“augmentative”)
no alterations	-i	-ini	-oni
vezzeggiativo (“meliorative”)	-elli or -etti	-ucci, -uzzi, -ellini, -ettini, -inelli or -inetti	-elloni, -ettoni, -onelli or -onetti
dispregiativo (“pejorative”)	-acci	-accini or -inacci	accioni or -onacci

feminine singular	no alterations	diminutivo (“diminutive”)	accrescitivo (“augmentative”)
no alterations	-a or -e	-ina	-ona
vezzeggiativo (“meliorative”)	-ella or -etta	-uccia, -uzza, -ellina, -ettina, -inella or -inetta	-ellona, -ettona, -onella or -onetta
dispregiativo (“pejorative”)	-accia	-accina or -inaccia	accione or -onaccia

feminine plural	no alterations	diminutivo (“diminutive”)	accrescitivo (“augmentative”)
no alterations	-e or -i	-ine	-one
vezzeggiativo (“meliorative”)	-elle or -ette	-ucce, -uzze, -elline, -ettine, -inelle or -inette	-ellone, -ettone, -onelle or -onette
dispregiativo (“pejorative”)	-acce	-accine or -inacce	acceone or -onacce

Irregular plurals

The table below lists Italian words that have irregular plurals. Not included are words that follow any of the following rules:

1. Words that end in a that change the final vowel to e (eg, casa)
2. Words that end in cia that change this ending to ce (eg, goccia)
3. Words that end in co or ca that change these endings to chi or che, respectively (eg, buco and forca)
4. Words that end in e that change the final vowel to i (eg, cane)
5. Words that end in gia that change this ending to ge (eg, spiaggia)
6. Words that end in go or ga that change these endings to ghi or ghe, respectively (eg, ago and riga)
7. Words that end in i that do not change in the plural (eg, sci)
8. Words that end in io that change this ending to i or ii (eg, microscopio, which becomes microscopi, and zio, which becomes zii)
9. Words that end in io pronounced සැකිල්ල:it-IPA that change with ending i (pronounced සැකිල්ල:it-IPA) or (rare, correct but virtually unused since half of the XX century) î (pronounced සැකිල්ල:it-IPA, which is correct, but unused and sounds weird to native speakers since half of the XX century) (eg, polinomio, which becomes polinomi or polinomî)
10. Words of Greek origin that end in ma or ta that change these endings to mi or ti, respectively. (eg, diploma and dentista)
11. Words that end in o that change the final vowel to i (eg, topo)
12. Words of one syllable that do not change in the plural (eg, re)
13. Words stressed on the final syllable, which do not change in the plural (eg, caffè)
14. Words of foreign origin that do not change in the plural (eg, yacht)
15. Short forms, which do not change in the plural (eg, auto)
16. Symbols or letters, which do not change in the plural

Singular	Plural	Notes
ala	ali	Both are feminine
braccio	braccia	Only when meaning “arm” either in its anatomical sense or referring to the measuring unit, otherwise the regular plural is used; the irregular plural is feminine
bue	buoi
ciglio	ciglia	Only when meaning “eyelash,” when it means “edge” the regular plural is used; the irregular plural is feminine
corno	corna	Only when referring to horns collectively, otherwise the regular plural is used; the irregular plural is feminine
dio	dei	The article used with the plural is gli
dito	dita	Only when referring to fingers or toes collectively, otherwise the regular plural is used; the irregular plural is feminine
labbro	labbra	Only when meaning “lip”, when it means “edge” the regular plural is used; the irregular plural is feminine
mano	mani	Both are feminine
muro	mura	Only when meaning “city walls” and when referring to walls collectively, when it means “walls” the regular plural is used; the irregular plural is feminine
miglio	miglia	This plural is feminine
paio	paia	This plural is feminine
principio	principi	the plural principi is the correct plural since half of the XX century and is homograph with the plural of principe; the plurals principî and principii are dated spellings
tempio	templi, (dated) tempî	The correct plural templi and the dated variant templo derive from the plural of the Latin templum. tempi is a misspelling.
uomo	uomini
osso	ossa	Only when referring collectively to the bones of the human body, otherwise the regular plural is used; the irregular plural is feminine
uovo	uova	This plural is feminine

මේවාත් බලන්න

• Wikipedia article on hypercorrection (which includes information on some incorrectly formed plurals)