📚 Masculine or Feminine?

In Italian, most nouns ending in -a are feminine; however, particular groups of masculine words end in -a in the singular and -i in the plural.

📌 Words ending in -ma

These are words of Greek origin. The most common are:

• Il tema → i temi

• Il sistema → i sistemi

• Il clima → i climi

• Il problema → i problemi

• Il dramma → i drammi

• Il dilemma → i dilemmi

• L’enigma → gli enigmi

• Il poema → i poemi

• Il trauma → i traumi

• Il teorema → i teoremi

• Lo schema → gli schemi

• Il diploma → i diplomi

• Il magma → ✖️ (only used in singular)

📌 Words ending in -gramma and -oma.

These are also words of Greek origin.

👉 In ancient Greek, -gramma means 'written,' so all words ending in -gramma refer to the meaning of 'writing.' Observe the following examples:

• Il programma → i programmi

• Il pentagramma → i pentagrammi

• L’elettrocardiogramma → gli elettrocardiogrammi

• L’anagramma → gli anagrammi

• Il diagramma → i diagrammi

• Il telegramma → i telegrammi

• L’organigramma → gli organigrammi

• L’epigramma → gli epigrammi

👉 In ancient Greek, -oma has a meaning of 'swelling' and 'inflammation' and is used in many medical words:

• L’ematoma → gli ematomi

• Il genoma → ✖️ (only used in singular)

📌 A very common masculine word ending in -a is the word pianeta:

• Il pianeta → i pianeti

📌 Names of some animals that remain invariable in singular and plural

• Il boa → i boa (word of Latin origin)

• Il cobra → i cobra (word of Latin origin)

• Il puma → i puma (word of Latin-American origin)

• Il koala → i koala (word of Aboriginal origin)

• Il gorilla → i gorilla (word of Greek origin)

• Il panda → i panda (word of uncertain origin)

🚨 Pay attention to concordanza

Don't be fooled by the -a ending of masculine nouns.

Besides the correct article, it's also important to have agreement between the nouns and adjectives, which, in this case, must be masculine.

Observe these sentences:

• Il problema è delicato;

• L’anagramma è complicato;

• L’ematoma sul ginocchio è ancora molto esteso;

• Nettuno è il pianeta più lontano dalla Terra.