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N.B.: We use a written accent mark to help students identify word stress and open/closed vowels even though Standard Italian may not require it.


Masculine Nouns with Radically Different Feminine Equivalents

Often masculine names referring to people or animals differ from the corresponding feminine form only for the ending. However, some nouns indicating persons and animals have two completely different forms for masculine and feminine.

Here are some examples:

MASCULINEFEMININE
abate (l')badessa (la)
babbo (il)mamma (la)
bécco (il)capra (la)
bue (il)mucca (la)
cane (il)cagna (la)
cavalière (il) - [horseman]cavallerizza (la)
cavalière (il) - [knight]dama (la)
cèlibe (il) nubile (la)
compare (il) comare (la)
dio (il) dea (la)
frate (il) suora (la)
fratèllo (il) sorella (la)
gallo (il) gallina (la)
gènero (il) nuora (la)
maiale (il) scrofa (la)
marito (il) moglie (la)
màschio (il) femmina (la)
messère (il) madonna (la)
montóne (il) pecora (la)
padre (il) madre (la)
padrino (il) madrina (la)
patròno (il) matrona (la)
pòrco (il) scrofa (la)
prète (il) suora (la)
ré (il) regina (la)
scàpolo (lo) zitella (la)
stregóne (lo) strega (la)
tòro (il) vacca (la)
uòmo (l')donna (la)


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