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Nouns in the Italian language takes various shapes, depending on their gender (masculine or feminine) or number (singular or plural). The most important thing to determine when you're dealing with a noun in Italian is the gender. This is really easy. In almost every occasion, in Italian a noun is preceded by an article, which has the same gender of the noun. Remember this golden rule: to know without any doubt the gender of a name, look at its article. This is why all the nouns in the vocabulary section are preceded by their articles. The reason why I'm sticking to the importance of the article is that Italian noun's desinences are quite confusing and that the article is the most reliable source of informations about the gender of a noun.
Italian nouns form the plural by modifying their desinences Every class of nouns has its own desinences.

In their singular form, Italian nouns end in:

"-o"	a)masculine Example:il letto(the bed), il pavimento(the floor), il libro(the book), il tavolo(the table), il bagno(the bathroom), il soggiorno(the dining room), lo zio (the uncle), l'orologio (the clock, the watch); b)feminine Example:la mano(the hand),
"-a"	a)masculine Example:il problema(the problem), il teorema(the theorem); b)feminine Example:la zia(the aunt), la lampada(the lamp), la faccia(the face), la bocca(the mouth), la spalla(the shoulder), la testa(the head);
"-e"	a)masculine Example:il dente(the tooth), il fante(the trooper), il leone(the lion), l'insegnante(the teacher), il fiume(the river), il mare(the sea), il calore(the heat), l'odore(the smell), il sapore(the taste), il colore(the colour), il dolore(the pain), l'amore(the love), il nipote(the nephew) b)feminine Example:la nipote(the niece), la nave(the ship), la sete(the thirst), la fame(the hunger), la mente(the mind), la fede(the faith), la morte(the death), la neve(the snow);

In order to summarize, the most "-o" ending nouns are masculine, but there're a few feminine nouns which end in "-o"; the most "-a" ending nouns are feminine, but there're a few masculine nouns which ends in "-a". In the third group there're the nouns which end in "-e". We can say that this group is composed by 50% masculine nouns and 50% feminine nouns.
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Italian nouns form the plural the way shown below:

"-o"	nouns which end in "-o" form the plural by changing it into an "-i" a)masculine: Example:i lètti(the beds), i pavimènti(the floors), i lìbri(the books), i tàvoli(the tables), i bàgni(the bathrooms), gli zìi (the uncles), gli orològi (the clocks, the watches); b)feminine: Example:le mani(the hands);
"-a"	a)masculine: they change the "-a" into an "-i" Example:i problèmi(the problems), i teorèmi(the theorems); b)feminine: they change the "-a" into an "-e" Example:le zìe(the aunts), le làmpade(the lamps), le fàcce(the face), le bòcche(the mouths), le spàlle(the shoulders), le tèste(the head);
"-e"	Both masculine and feminine names changes the "-e" in "-i" a)masculine Example:i dènti(the teeth), i fanti(the troopers), i leòni(the lions), le insegnanti(the teachers), i fiumi(the rivers), i mari(the seas), gli odori(the smells), i sapori(the tastes), i colori(the colours), i nipoti(the nephews) b)feminine Example:le nipoti(the nieces), le navi(the ships), le menti(the minds), le fedi(the faiths), le morti(the deaths), le nevi(a lot of snow);

The table above shows how the desinences of nouns change from singular to plural. If you remember the lesson on the different pronunciation of "c" and "g", you'll easily understand that changing the desinence "-o" or "-a" into "-i" or "-e" can affect the pronunciation of the whole word. There're a bunch of rules you can rely on to predict the exact pronunciation of a word. Look below:

1. Nouns which end in "-ca" and "-ga", they always mantain the strong sound of "c" and "g", so their plural is "-che" and "-ghe":
   banca,banche(bank)
2. Nouns which end in "-cìa" and "-gìa" (the stress falling on the last "i"), when they form the plural they mantain the stressed "i":
   bugìa, bugie(lie);
   magìa, magie(magic);
   farmacìa, farmacìe(drugstore)
3. Nouns which end in "-cia" and "-gia"(the "i" is not stressed), they regularly form the plural by changing the "a" in "e" and they lose the "i":
   ciliegia, ciliege(cherry)
4. Nouns which end in "-co" and "-go" in the plural end in:
   1. "-chi" and "-ghi", if the stress is put on the second syllable from the last:
      albèrgo, albèrghi(hotel);
      There're some exceptions:
      amìco,amìci(friend);nemìco,nemìci(enemies);
      
   2. "-ci" and "-gi", if the stress is put on the third syllable from the last:
      sìndaco, sìndaci(mayor);But there're some exceptions too:
      òbbligo, òbblighi(obligation);
      
5. Nouns which end in "-logo" form the plural:
   1. changing the desinence into "-logi" when they are nouns of people:
      psicòlogo,psicòlogi(psycologist);
      
   2. changing the desinence into "-loghi" when they are nouns of things:
      diàlogo,diàloghi(dialogue);
      
6. Nouns which end in "-io" form the plural:
   1. changing "-io" into "-ìi" if the "i" before the "o" is stressed:
      zìo,zìi(uncle);
      
   2. changing it into "-i" if the "i" before the "o" is not stressed:
      figlio,figli(uncle);
      
7. Some masculine noums which ens in "-o" are feminine and end in "-a" in the plural:
   il pàio, le paia(pair);
   l'uòvo, le uova(egg);
   il migliàio, le migliàia(a group of 1000 items);
   il riso, le risa(laughter);
   il centinaio, le centinaia(a group of 100 items);
   il miglio, le miglia(mile);