In Italian, most nouns that end in -a are feminine. However, an important exception is a group of masculine nouns ending in -ma. Many of these words come from ancient Greek and are used to discuss complex concepts.
Masculine Singular: -ma
These nouns take masculine singular articles (like il, l', or un) and masculine adjectives.
| This is a difficult system that I don't understand. | Questo è un sistema difficile che non capisco. |
| This is not a real dilemma for me at all. | Questo non è mica un vero dilemma per me. |
Masculine Plural: -mi
To make these nouns plural, the final -a changes to -i, making the ending -mi. Remember to match them with masculine plural articles (like i, gli, or questi) and adjectives.
| The new systems are not better, they are worse. | I nuovi sistemi non sono migliori, sono peggiori. |
| We have two difficult dilemmas to solve. | Abbiamo due dilemmi difficili da risolvere. |
| The themes of the book are very interesting. | I temi del libro sono molto interessanti. |
Notice how the plural article acts exactly as it would for any other masculine noun. For example, masculine nouns starting with a vowel take gli (or quegli for "those"):
| Those enigmas are the worst. | Quegli enigmi sono i peggiori. |
Academic and Abstract Themes
You will encounter this -ma to -mi pattern constantly when talking about academic subjects, literature, and science.
| This theorem is very difficult. | Questo teorema è molto difficile. |
| The new paradigms change the world. | I nuovi paradigmi cambiano il mondo. |
| The students received their diplomas. | Gli studenti hanno ricevuto i diplomi. |
| The epic poems that we read are very famous. | I poemi che abbiamo letto sono molto famosi. |