Nouns that end in a in the singular end in e in the plural. Nouns that end in e in the singular end in i in the plural. Nouns that end in a' in the singular stay the same in the plural. As we will see below, sometimes these letters are hard and sometimes soft, and there are tricks to make them so. And BTW there is no neuter.
Nouns ending in -e in the singular are in each case either masculine or feminine.
The distinction is useful in words like amico, which actually means male friend. This may be offensive, but you're gonna have a hard time changing it. An r at the beginning of a word is often treated like an rr. Read aloud paragraphs of Italian. Concentrate on c's and g's and sc's.