Articles (Gli articoli)
Pratice:Articles
Articles appear directly before nouns in sentences. In English, the is called a definite article and a and an are called indefinite articles. In Italian, there are several different forms of the definite article (articolo determinativo) and indefinite article (articolo indeterminativo). The choice of form depends upon two properties of the noun: its gender (masculine vs. feminine) and number (singular vs. plural).
Indefinite Articles (articoli indeterminativi)
Masculine (maschile)
| article | examples | usage |
|---|---|---|
| un | un libro un autore |
The default masculine indefinite article. Use with all masculine nouns except those beginning with -z or -s + consonant. |
| uno | uno stadio uno zio |
Use with masculine nouns beginning with -z or -s + consonant. |
Feminine (femminile)
| article | examples | usage |
|---|---|---|
| una | una ragazza | The default feminine indefinite article. Use with all feminine nouns except those beginning with a vowel. |
| un' | un'amica, un'opera | Use with feminine nouns beginning with a vowel. |
In Italian, there are no plural forms of the indefinite article.
Definite Articles (articoli determinativi)
Maschile
| article | examples | usage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| singular | il | il libro | with all masculine nouns except those beginning with -z, -s + consonant, or a vowel. |
| plural | i | i libri | |
| singular | lo | lo stadio lo zoo |
with masculine nouns beginning with -z or -s + consonant. |
| plural | gli | gli sport | |
| singular | l' | l'amico l'uomo |
with masculine nouns beginning with a vowel. |
| plural | gli | gli ombrelli |
Femminile
| article | examples | usage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| singular | la | la ragazza | with all feminine nouns except those beginning with a vowel. |
| l' | l'amica l'Italia |
with feminine nouns beginning with a vowel. | |
| plural | le | le amiche le case |
with all feminine nouns. |
The choice of article is determined by the first letter of the word that follows it. "The uncle" = lo zio, but "the dear uncle" = il caro zio. Now that the adjective caro appears right after the article, the default masculine article il is fine.
Sometimes articles and nouns end in the same letter (i.e. le ragazze), but often they do not (le automobili, lo sport). Maintaining agreement between articles and nouns means choosing the article that has the same gender and number as the noun.
In addition to pointing out a specific noun, the definite article in Italian is used in many cases in which it is omitted in English. For example:
- with abstract nouns, e.g. l’amore (love) and l’intelligenza (intelligence)
- with general classes of nouns, e.g. gli americani (Americans) and gli alberi (trees)
- with days of the week and languages, e.g. il francese (French) and il sabato (Saturdays)