PLURALE PLURAL _Maschile_ _Femminile_ _Masculine_ _Feminine_ i ragazzi le ragazze the boys the girls, etc. i romani le romane the Romans gli scolari le scolare the scholars i sarti le sarte the tailors i santi le sante the saints i tagliatori le tagliatrici the cutters gli uomini le donne the men i vecchi le vecchie the old men i visitatori le visitatrici the visitors gli zii le zie the uncles
Occasionally class exercises are used in our schools for the four forms of the Italian noun, masculine and feminine, singular and plural. They take the form almost of a game, which the children find amusing. A child for instance distributes around the class all the plural nouns. Then he reads aloud a noun in the singular. The child who holds the corresponding plural answers immediately. The same thing is next done for masculine and feminine, and, finally, for all four forms at once.
When these exercises have become familiar to the child, others somewhat more difficult may be presented. These new ones comprise: nouns which change form completely as they change gender and of which, so far, only the most familiar examples (_babbo_, "father," _mamma_, "mother," etc.) have been given (Series A); nouns in which the form is the same in the singular of both genders (Series B); those in which both genders have a common form in the singular and a common form in the plural (Series C); nouns which have only one form for both singular and plural (Series D); nouns where the same form appears in both genders but with a different meaning (Series E); finally, nouns which change gender as they pass from the singular to the plural (Series F).
SINGOLARE SINGULAR _Maschile_ _Femminile_ _Masculine_ _Feminine_ il babbo la mamma the father the mother il becco la capra the he-goat the she-goat il frate la suora the friar the nun il fratello la sorella the brother the sister il genero la nuora the son-in-law the daughter-in-law il montone la pecora the ram the ewe il maschio la femmina the male the female il marito la moglie the husband the wife il padre la madre the father the mother il padrino la madrina the godfather the godmother il porco la scrofa the hog the sow il toro la vacca the bull the cow l'uomo la donna the man the woman il re la regina the king the queen